


Lost at Sea

by SnitorisSnape



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dark Humor and Regular Humor, Explicit Language, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, M/M, Mild Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-16 09:17:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11250144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnitorisSnape/pseuds/SnitorisSnape
Summary: As a freshman art major, the plan was for Riku to live at the dorms and learn art things, but life never goes the way you plan. Instead, Riku almost becomes homeless and learns other lessons; like how to make stove-top macaroni and cheese, or that the world is a place full of tomorrows worth waking up to.





	1. In which there is a little art and some history

**Author's Note:**

> Content warnings for mentions of past emotional abuse and bad parenting in general. Plus touching on issues of drug use and addiction and just bad coping skills. Plus, pretty in-depth descriptions of depression and anxiety. 
> 
> hope y'all enjoy :3 I'm very excited for this fic

_Cats were thrown off the backs of trucks,_  
_and ambled up the yard to us,_  
_singin', “all I want is a bed to lie in and lovin' arms for me to die in.”_  
Sirens - Hop Along

It was somewhere around his ninth cup of coffee and a couple hours into blaring Hop Along’s Waitress on repeat so loud his headphones were starting to pop, trying to get his shaking hands to stop ruining everything, that Riku began to wonder if he had officially lost it. Alongside making fourteen typos per sentence and the intense stream of self-loathing rushing through his head, he seemed to now also be having auditory hallucinations.

Riku desperately tried to ignore the voice saying his name, narrowing his eyes and trying to focus on his essay. It kept getting louder until he could clearly hear, “Riku- jesus christ, _Riku!”_ through the music.

Then someone threw a pillow at him and he realized his roommate had just trying to get his attention. There was a brief moment of relief as Riku realized he still had some time left before he completely lost his grip on reality. He tugged his headphones off, and looked up at Tidus glaring down at him.

“Yeah?” Riku squinted, eyes burning from the hours spent staring at his Macbook’s screen. Frances Quinlan’s screaming was still perfectly audible from where the headphones hung around his neck.

“I was going to ask if you ever found somewhere to stay for break.” Tidus ran a hand through his hair, frowning. “But now, I want to ask what the hell you’re on, man.”

Riku was on a low dosage of antidepressants and sleeping medication, which he had absentmindedly taken sometime around sunset, ready to crash out before starting his final week of classes. He had been mostly in its clutches until he remembered an unfinished (actually, unstarted,) essay due in less than twelve hours. He was also on an intense, self-inflicted guilt-trip and a full day of eating nothing but pringles. A typical sunday night, honestly.

But his roommate didn’t really need to know all that, least of all about the anti-depressants, so Riku just raised a shaking hand to his sweaty forehead and replied, “Lots of coffee.”

“I see that,” Tidus continued to look at him with frustration. “The smell’s been keeping me up. The music too, actually. That’s beside the point,” He huffed, “Anyway, please tell me you found somewhere to stay.”

“I thought you said I could stay with you at your parents house?” Riku asked.

“As a-” Tidus groaned. “As a _worst case scenario,_ man, I said. Like, if it came between that and sleeping on a bench.”

“It is between that and sleeping on a bench, I can’t afford anything else.” Tidus made another noise of frustration. Riku saw how serious he looked and pushed himself up off his nest of pillows into a sitting up position. “Why?” he asked, starting to feel even more unnerved than he already had.

Tidus blanched, sitting down on the edge of Riku’s bed. All the anger seemed to drain right out of him as he said, “Because my mom finally e-mailed me back and said there was no way in hell I can let someone crash at her house for a month and a half for free.”

Riku sucked in a breath. “Oh.” He looked back down at his laptop sitting on the bed.

He could feel Tidus staring at him for awhile, as if he expected Riku to say something else, so Riku added, “Bummer.”

“Bummer?” Tidus repeated, raising his eyebrows. Riku nodded. It did seem like a lackluster response to have after being told he was going to spend his christmas vacation sleeping on icey city sidewalks, assuming he didn’t get arrested for vagrancy and spend it in a holding cell instead. But his brain seemed to have skipped the mental breakdown and had gone straight to dissociation. Convenient, because now he could finish his essay. Though not necessarily a relief; the anxiety attack would certainly randomly spring itself on him sometime later in the week, probably in public.

“I’ll figure something out.” Riku shrugged. “No big deal.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t afford anything?” Riku shrugged again. Tidus was back to being angry. “This is why I kept telling you to get a job!”

“I was going to wait until winter vacation,” Riku reminded him. “I didn’t know that the dorms closed during breaks until last week.”

 _“Trust fund kids,”_ Tidus hissed under his breath. Riku took no offense- it was true. Also, he knew his roommate was just mad because he was scared for him. Riku appreciated someone emoting on his behalf, since he was kind of incapable of it at the moment.

“Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out,” he repeated, voice still as detached as the rest of him. “I’m sure I’ll find someone who's willing to take me in on credit.”

Tidus let out a long, frustrated exhale and stood up from Riku’s bed. “Alright, okay,” he muttered to himself, running both hands through his hair before walking to his significantly more-decorated and less organized side of the room and flopped down onto his own bed. “Just gotta find someone to take you in on the promise of eventual payment when you’ve never even had a job before, okay.” Tidus grumbled, “Jeez, man. I sure hope for your sake a sap like that exists.”

A smile twitched at Riku’s lips. Or perhaps his lips were just twitching- he _had_ drank a lot of coffee.

Maybe it was because it was close to four in the morning or maybe it was because he was a misanthrope, but Riku was entirely sure no one like that could exist. _Arrested for vagrancy it is,_ he thought, getting up to make himself another cup of coffee.

*

Riku didn’t know if his essay was legible. He didn’t care. He had finished it, submitted it, and had been asleep for a glorious eight minutes when his phone alarm went off. It took him half an hour to actually get out of the bed and five minutes of just standing there doing his best not to throw up. Tidus watched him with utmost concern as he got dressed. Riku decided that today Tidus was the most annoying thing in the universe, mostly just because Riku hated how Tidus knew how truly unstable he was.

After managing to get ready for the day, impressively not throwing up once, he haphazardly threw things into his bag he thought might be important and then began walking towards the campus.

Riku was starting to feel more like a human after eating breakfast at the cafeteria and drinking some water, enough so to make it through the day. He was mostly on autopilot up until lunch when he ran back to his dorm room to sleep for an hour. After that he was groggy, but a bit more alive.

His last class on mondays was art history with Professor Braig, a man who seemed to care nothing for art or history- or anything really. Back before the ‘all art majors will end up homeless and life is suffering,’ apathy had come over Riku, when he was still bright-eyed at the start of the semester, it had been his least favorite class. He felt as though he had was being robbed of a quality education as the professor just cracked weird, borderline racist and definitely homophobic jokes, swirling around his pen lazily and lounging in his swivel chair, occasionally slipping out to, (in Riku’s theory, anyway,) take bong hits in the parking lot.

These days it was Riku’s favorite class. He figured he wasn’t the one paying for it, and he could do effectively anything he wanted to long as it didn’t get on the professor’s nerves. Usually, that was just drawing in his notebook while listening to music. As of last class, it had been talking to the guy who sat next to him, company that Riku really regretted he hadn’t taken advantage of back at the very beginning of the semester.

Riku walked into the classroom, most of the other students milling about and socializing. Feeling no motivation to do that with people he barely knew, Riku made his way to his desk. He smiled a little to himself when he saw his deskmate was already there, arms propped up on the desk, his hair it’s usual ridiculous mess, dead to the world.

“Hey, Sora,” Riku said quietly, and Sora gave a surprised start, looking around the room as if he didn’t know where he was before seeing Riku. His shoulders relaxed, and he gave him a wide, sleepy grin.

“Hey,” Sora greeted, yawning, voice heavy with sleep. He covered his mouth with one hand and made a finger gun with the other one to shoot Riku with. “It’s my best friend.”

Riku snorted. He was completely sure Sora didn’t mean that seeing as they had only started socializing last week, (and only due to forced proximity and extreme boredom,) but Sora had such a friendly air about him you could almost believe it in that moment.

“Don’t let Braig see that,” Riku pointed at Sora’s hand pistol gesture. “You might get him all fired up again.”

Sora stared at his hand, eyes widening with concern before quickly tucking it in a make-believe thigh holster and looking around the room frantically. “Shoot, do you think anyone saw it?” he whispered in horror. Riku inhaled deeply, burying his face into hands as he desperately tried to not burst into laughter in a room full of strangers. 

In their two weeks of acquaintanceship, Sora always managed to catch him completely off-guard, despite the fact Sora was _always_ being such a colossal dork, and, quite frankly, Riku should have been prepared for that. He even had a sneaking suspicion that Sora had started being even more of a dork to try and make Riku laugh.

“I’m serious.” Sora protested when Riku had managed to get his breathing normal, and no longer laden with stuttered, repressed laughter. He was smiling, so Riku knew he wasn’t actually serious at all. “I don’t want another stapler thrown at me.”

Sora slept soundly through most of their art history classes, and when Sora wasn’t asleep he just yawned a lot and rubbed at the dark, heavy bags under his eyes. The professor hadn’t cared in the least, though he’d occasionally make some jokes about Sora’s snoring. At least, that’s the way it had been up until last friday when someone had mentioned.... something about guns. Riku didn’t remember what it was or the context or even who had even brought it up, but it had completely changed the whole classroom’s atmosphere in a split second.

Professor Braig had jumped up and started talking about… gun things? Riku had kind of spaced out but he had made sure to act like he was listening, unnerved by the fact his professor was actually teaching them for once, even if it was completely unrelated to what everyone in the room had signed up for. Riku had made the right choice in pretending to pay attention, because somewhere in between ramblings about AK-47s, magazine clips, his love of the NRA, sniper rifles and hatred of gun control laws, Sora had snored loudly. The professor had been so offended he had picked up the stapler off the desk and chucked it at Sora. Well, at Sora’s desk. Just to get his attention, not to hurt him. Was what the entire class was hoping, anyway.

“I don’t think anyone saw,” Riku assured him, rolling his eyes.

Sora smiled at him again. “Welp, then I think it’s time for me to get back to work,” Sora gestured to the desk, then adjusted himself, burrowing his head into his arms. Riku knew that ‘work’ meant sleeping and also that Sora was a huge dork. Riku pulled out his phone and put on his headphones.

Riku was a little disappointed the one entertaining thing about class was usually unconscious, but he figured the guy definitely needed more sleep. Riku wasn’t sure if Sora had a late night video game addiction or suffered from severe insomnia like Riku had up until getting his prescription. Whatever the reason, Sora seemed to be constantly exhausted. Back at the beginning of the year Riku had mentally chastised Sora for always drooling all over their desk, but these days Riku just envied Sora’s ability to pass out at will.

Riku had just leaned back in his chair and began playing Crossy Road when a resounding thud caused him to jump and instinctively yank off his headphones and pocket his phone. Though it seemed the huge textbook being slammed against the desk hadn’t been a warning to him but to Sora.

Professor Braig smacked the book against their desk again and snapped, “As if, Ihara! Up and at ‘em!” Sora raised his head and gave his professor a dirty look. Satisfied he was awake, Braig smirked and made his way to the front of the classroom. “Sleep on your own time!”

 _“What own time,”_ Sora grumbled under his breath, rubbing at his eyes.

Riku decided not to test the professor’s arbitrary rules to see if he could use his phone. Instead he just took out his notebook and watched Braig rummage around at his desk while Sora tried not to nod off.

Their professor fiddled with the projector, shut off the classroom lights, and started playing some civil war movie. Riku felt a pang of annoyance. This lesson was clearly so very relevant to art-based history that Sora shouldn’t dare to miss it.

Though the opening scene alone was so loud - the room filled with booming gunshots and explosions and screaming - that Riku decided Sora wouldn’t have been able to sleep through it anyway.

“I’m so looking forward to break,” Sora sighed, looking at the people getting blown up on the screen with disinterest.

Right, break. Riku had still managed to suppress the panic about that. Though he figured he should start making some sort of effort to prevent himself from being homeless.

“Hey, do you know anyone who's looking for a roommate?” Riku asked, deciding it was a good place to start. Ask around first, mention the whole no money thing later.

Sora glanced up in thought for a moment before turning to Riku and shaking his head. “Nope, sorry. Why, are you at the dorms?” Riku nodded. “Bummer,” Sora yawned yet again, slipping down in his chair. “I’ll ask around.”

“Really?” That was more kindness than Riku expected. “Thanks, man.”

Sora made another finger gun at him before pulling the hood of his jacket over his eyes, crossing his arms, and, amazingly, slept through the deafening sounds of violence.

*

After art history Riku decided he should probably go to the cafeteria to eat and ask around to see if anyone was willing to provide housing. He did neither of those things. Instead he went to the student rec center and ran laps until his brain was deprived of enough oxygen that it shut up about what he should be doing.

*

Tidus’s pointed looks and meaningful stares and thoughtful throat-clearings got more frequent over the next few days. By wednesday night, sitting cross legged in the middle of the room, various objects strewn across the floor and suitcase lying open, he finally decided to convey his feelings with words.

“You are so fucked, man.”

Riku nodded, not looking up from his charcoal anatomy sketches. He had felt the familiar choking sensation come on him in the middle of Introduction to Digital Media and had to rush to the nearest bathroom to throw up in. He didn’t go back to class after that, just shakily made his way back to the dorms to lie on the floor for a few hours, staring at his clenched hands, breathing through his nose and hoping he wasn’t actually having a heart attack.

He missed his digital media class, which was okay. The professor was forgiving and she liked him. He missed art history too, but that wasn’t even a real class so that was also okay. He had been back to his displaced apathy by the time Tidus came home that night which was very nice as well because no one saw him hyperventilating on the carpet. He was now emotionally exhausted enough that he didn’t have it in himself to worry about how so fucked, man, he was. Instead he just felt boneless and kind of relaxed, which was also very nice. He was still going to be homeless though, so that part was less nice.

“So fucked,” Tidus said again.

*

Thursday Riku finally buried the pulsating anxiety about talking to other people and started asking around in earnest. No one was looking for a roommate, regardless of the whole I.O.U situation. 

Friday meant one more day until Riku was royally screwed. He had been told before he had a severe gaze, and Tidus was always nagging him to try and smile more and to, “Lighten up man, you always look like you want to kill someone,” and so on and so forth. So somewhere underneath the hurricane of sick that was his mental state, Riku was fairly sure people were avoiding him. He barely had the attention span to get through finals, though, let alone care how much his hollow gaze and set jaw was upsetting those around him. 

In between the stream of _-ead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m d-_ Riku realized he should try not to be a dick to Sora. He was pretty sure Sora wasn’t an art major, and that this was going to be the last time he ever saw the guy. And Sora was cool, and didn’t deserve to be snubbed by Riku’s current inability to interact civilly with other humans.

Riku walked into the classroom. The professor absent as usual, only coming in until the last possible minute, if that. He walked past the other students, to his desk and sat beside Sora. Sora was awake, but drained. His hair somehow worse than usual and clothes disheveled. Despite that, his presence was the same. Relaxed, open body language, looking as comfortable slumped onto the desk as one would look in their own home, and smiling as wide as ever.

Except he wasn’t smiling, his easy aura fading as he sat up. His brow creased and he frowned.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked, and Riku wondered if he really did look as bad as he felt. Sora continued to stare and added, “You look awful.”

For some reason, someone acknowledging his twitchiness rather than just saying nothing and staring politely was quite welcomed. Appreciated, even. Riku found himself exhaling sharply, placing his head into his hands.  
“Not really,” he admitted.

Sora placed a hand on his shoulder and Riku felt himself startling at the contact. “Is this about the dorms closing?” Riku nodded. “You still haven’t a place yet?” Riku shook his head. “When do the dorms close?”

“Sunday night,” Riku grumbled into his hands.

“Shoot.” Riku looked up to see Sora staring at him in what could only be described as contemplation. “You really don’t have anywhere to go?” Sora bit at his lower lip.

“I really don’t,” Riku replied, feeling heavy. He hated himself for whining about his problems like this, especially to someone he barely knew in the middle of a crowded classroom. The teacher still hadn’t arrived, and most people were still standing around conversing and laughing. Riku didn’t turn to see if they were, but it definitely felt like everyone was staring at him. “I literally can’t afford anything and I don’t have a job.”

Sora’s expression morphed into something of skepticism, raising his eyebrows. “How the heck were you paying for the dorms in the first place?”

Riku was feeling raw and vulnerable, he had surprised himself with how much he had confessed already. Even if he was fighting off intense, crushing nausea and probably heart palpitations, there was no way he was wrecked enough to even approach that mess. 

“It’s a long story,” he told Sora instead. 

Sora didn’t look impressed with that at all.

“You can’t stay with your parents or something?” 

Riku couldn’t help how stoney his face became and how he he practically snarled in response, “Yeah, that option is nowhere near the fucking table.” He regretted it pretty much as soon as it had come out of his mouth.

Sora look at him thoughtfully. Riku desperately wished he could take the words and their harsh tones back. He opened his mouth to say something, but was quickly distracted by the creaking of door hinges.

“Everyone get in your seats! It’s time for class!” Braig called, sounding completely disinterested. Riku took this as a convenient excuse to tear his eyes away from Sora and watch their professor mess around with something at his desk. 

He could still feel that gaze burning into him and he sighed. Riku had screwed up “not being a dick to Sora” just about as royally as he had screwed up everything else on his to-do list.

Braig held up a stack of papers. “So, because this class was all based in lectures and-” there was an incredulous murmur throughout the class. A few people even laughed. The professor ignored them. “-had no assignments, 100% of your final grade will be based entirely on how you do on this test.” He waved the stack of papers in his hand.

That brought the tittering amusement in the classroom to a grinding halt. A few people even started shouting protests, Sora one of them. Braig spoke loudly over the cries of ‘that’s not fair!’ and ‘no one said anything about tests!’, “This is college! You little babies thought life would be all cotton candy and flowers? As if!”

He began passing out the papers, informing them how he expected them to stay quiet and not cheat. Riku tuned him out, just staring at a small bruise on his left wrist, wondering how it got there and why he hadn’t noticed it before. _Just fuck me up, god._ Sora was seething next to him.

Though when the professor finally came around to the two’s table on the far corner of the room, Riku nearly burst out laughing as he was handed the paper. Sora certainly did. The professor narrowed his eyes at them. 

“Something funny, Ihara?” he spat. Sora just smiled innocently and shook his head. The second their professor walked away again Sora’s shoulders started heaving again, biting down on the sleeve of his hoodie to muffle the sound.

Riku’s lips twitched as he looked over the test. It was impressive. It reminded him of those mock-exams the teachers in middle school had students make after finishing the assigned literature. Five questions; fill in the blank, true or false, circle one, multiple choice, and a brief essay question. It was littered with inconsistencies in formatting and confusing verb tenses and harboring invigorating questions like “Whom that painted the Mona Lisa?”

Sora uncovered his mouth to grin at Riku. “This class is amazing.”

Riku nodded. Despite everything, he was glad his almost cool, dorky deskmate in the world’s most dysfunctional art history class wasn’t mad at him, or at least had forgiven him momentarily so they could laugh at their final exam together. It was a small victory, considering the weight of the matters on heavy on Riku’s chest, but a victory still celebrated nonetheless. He returned the grin and set aside the creeping panic to try and enjoy the rest of their shit show of a class.

*

Art history was the last final of the day for Riku, and it was followed directly by an appointment with the Student Clinic on the other side of campus. Not wanting to waste one last chance to be a dick to everyone, Braig told them their tests would be invalid unless they stayed until the end of the class. Sora had dozed off after he had finished the “final” about three minutes into class and slept soundly next to Riku as Riku compulsively kept looking at the time on his phone. The second it hit 3:15, everyone in the room got up as quickly as they could, Riku included.

For a second he debated waking up Sora to say… well. That was where the debate ended. He had no idea what to say. He barely knew the guy. Plus, it was rude to wake up a sleeping person. Especially one as chronically tired as Sora. So Riku just awkwardly waffled for a minute before leaving the building and making his way to the clinic.

It was starting to get colder, in a sharp dry way that didn’t threatened snow but did threaten frost. Riku contemplated how this was going to be his first real winter, not counting the decembers on the west coast where it only went from shorts weather to pants weather. He had been excited for the change in seasons, up until he realized he was most likely going to be homeless during them. Now his first winter might be his last. Woo-hoo.

A call of, “Riku!” abruptly took him out of his morbid thoughts. He turned around, utterly confused, to see Sora running across the courtyard after him. Riku stopped, letting him catch up. He wondered what this could possibly be about.

Sora took a second to regain his breath.

“Are you gay?”

Riku may have had no idea what to expect, but even if he had, he certainly wouldn’t have expected _that._

“W-wh- _what_?” He spluttered, “No!”

It was instinct. After all, the last time he had admitted that was what had started this whole mess. But then again the whole reason he had chosen this university in this city was for its progressiveness, so there shouldn’t be any reason to lie. 

“I mean yes,” he corrected. Sora gave him an amused look. “But where the fuck did this come from, Sora?”

Sora simply shrugged so Riku tried asking, “...are you?”

“Yep!” Sora chirped. “But not like the gay kind of gay,” he added. “The bi kind of gay.” Riku raised his eyebrows and looked over the guy next to him. He was kind of scrawny, and short compared to Riku. His jeans and sneakers were beat up and his hoodie was about as worn as the rest of his outfit. Plus, his teeth were kind of janked up. Not that it mattered, but it certainly wasn’t the type of man Riku ever saw himself getting with. A little too grunge for him.

“Not to be rude,” Riku started, doing his best to be polite, “but I’m not really interested?”

Sora rolled his eyes and shoved Riku on the shoulder. “Not for that, dummy!” Riku winced and did his best not to rub at his bicep. Sora was surprisingly strong. “Anyway, you don’t have a job right?”

Riku wondered how Sora possibly thought adding an ‘anyway’ would do anything to help link those two completely unrelated topics. 

“Not yet,” he ventured. “But I’ve been looking.” This was true, he had started desperately filling out online applications despite the fact even if someone decided to hire him with no work experience, it would probably be a little too late.

“Okay, okay,” Sora nodded. “Not ideal, but I’ll believe you.” He tapped a finger against his chin. “And do you like kids? Are you good with them?”

Once again, Sora had left him even more confused. Riku didn’t even know how to answer that. He had barely been around kids. He once looked at a baby and it started crying, so maybe not? But his grade-school-age cousins had liked him well enough when they visited last year, even if the only Mandarin he knew was “Hello,” and the only English they knew was “Spongebob Squarepants.”

Sora was looking at him so intently Riku gulped. This felt almost like a job interview. (Riku assumed. Not like he actually knew, since nowhere had called him back.) He figured he was neither lying nor was he telling the truth when he said, “Kids and I get along okay.”

“That’s important,” Sora said seriously. Riku gave up trying to figure out what he was on about at this point. “How old are you?”

“Nineteen,” Riku answered. Sora’s eyebrows went up past his bangs.

“Seriously?” Sora asked. “I’m older than you?”

“Yeah, I…” Riku was tempted to roll his eyes. “I know. I get that a lot.”

“You’re like seven feet tall and totally jacked!”

“Yep.”

Sora placed his hand on the top of his head and then lined up the distance on Riku, bringing him to just a little below his collar bones. 

“Gosh dangit!” Sora scrunched up his nose in distaste. “Not fair at all.” Riku scratched at his nose and wondered if he should just leave now before he missed his appointment. Before he could, Sora scanned him up and down again with a thoughtful look. “But you’re like, garage-cleaning strong.”

Riku blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Argh!” Sora ruffled his hair aggressively, shaking his head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” he admitted. “She’s going to be so mad.” At this point, Riku would have been more surprised if Sora had actually said something that made sense. Sora sighed and dejectedly reached into his bag and pulled out an iphone with an incredibly cracked screen. “I have work, but I’ll call you as soon as I can.” He handed Riku the phone, which through the glass shards Riku could just about make out was on the ‘add new contact’ screen.

Riku debated putting in Pizza Hut’s number. Then he remembered it didn’t matter anyway, because even if he still had the phone the plan had been cut. So he did what he had done for the financial aid department and the clinic, and just put in Tidus’s number. If Sora was trouble person, then that was Tidus’s problem. If not, he had a way to contact Riku.

Hoping he wouldn’t regret it, he entered his roommate's number and handed the phone back. Sora took it, grinning brightly. Riku felt a smile twitch at his lips out of nowhere. Crooked teeth or no, it was contagious. 

“Well, see ya when I see ya!” Sora told him, giving Riku no time at all to figure out how to say goodbye as Sora turned and ran, waving over his shoulder.

As Riku watched him rush across the campus courtyard, Riku decided he was too cool and nice to be a crazy person. He was just really weird. Riku decided he wouldn’t regret not entering Pizza Hut’s number.

He really hoped so, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> characterization is real tricky for this fic. I'm writing childhood friends not only as people who just met, but also as alternate versions of themselves who grew up without the other. which basically means, riku who grew up without sora = extra emo


	2. In which Riku leaves the dorms

The clinic was the same as all other doctor’s offices Riku had ever been in. White, sterile, with intrusively bright fluorescent lighting that made you want to wear sunglasses indoors. The chairs were stiff and uncomfortable, and everyone around him looked uneasy and fidgety (sans the couple loudly making out a few chairs over). The only thing that really set it apart from all emergency rooms or dental practices in his life were the nurses. Or, one nurse in particular anyway. That he kept seeming to get. Every. Single. Time.

Riku held his fingers crossed in pocket with one hand and mindlessly kept opening and closing apps on his phone with the other, trying to distract himself from the couple that was making wet noises with their mouths that echoed in the otherwise quiet waiting room.

It went on like this for an uncomfortably long amount of time, making Riku wonder why he had even bothered to run here when he knew they wouldn’t call him in until a half hour later than he was scheduled. Finally, a voice called, “Riku Chao!” The same girly voice as last time, unfortunately. Riku uncrossed his fingers and sighed. So much for hoping he wouldn’t get Larxene again. He stood up and made his way behind the check-in office and down the hall.

Larxene led him to an open room and shut the door behind them, gesturing for him to sit. Riku pretended not to notice, and instead leaned against the wall and crossed his arms across his chest. She gave him a Look for it, but must have decided against saying anything and instead sat down at her desk and began shuffling through paperwork.

“So?” She prompted, tapping long pink nails against the desk.

Riku hated her nails. And her desk. And her face. “So?” he replied, hoping it sounded as sarcastic as he had wanted it to.

“Still having scary little nightmares, are we?” She didn’t bother to look up, but Riku saw a smile twitch at her lips.

 _Still haven’t gotten our medical license revoked for being a sadist, have we?_ Riku narrowed his eyes, wishing she’d look up and maybe be unnerved by the resting-bitch face everyone kept telling him he had. “Sure.”

“Aww, poor baby,” she cooed. Riku wondered if it was still wrong to hit women, or if that was outdated by now. Even if it was, he knew he still couldn’t do it. Curse his strong morals and strict Catholic-Chinese upbringing. “Well, before I can refill your prescription I need you to answer some questions.”

Riku stared at the tips of his bangs and wondered if they were getting too long. Ah well, if it wasn’t covered by his tuition, dorm package or meal plan, he couldn’t afford it.

“Are you sexually active?”

His roots probably needed to be touched up soon as well. “Nope.” Maybe if he found a job within the next few weeks he could take care of that. Assuming he found a place to say and food and stuff as well first. Maybe. His priorities had gotten weird lately.

“Interesting, interesting,” she muttered to herself. Out of the corner of his eye Riku could see that she wasn’t writing anything down. Why was the majority of the staff on this campus all on some soft of insane power trip? “And what is your past number of sexual partners?”

Riku tried to concentrate really hard on anything but Nurse Larxene and the way she was chewing on the edge of her pen, bare legs crossed and grinning from ear to ear. _”ninehunderedandtwentyeight,”_ he grumbled.

“Sorry?” She tilted forward on her chair, cupping her hand over an ear. “Could you repeat that?”

 _I hate you._ “Zero.”

She snorted. She didn’t even try to hide it. Riku started up at the ceiling and began counting to a hundred in Mandarin. Yī, èr, sān, sì. “Do you ever drink alcohol?” She gave a wink and pressed her pen to her lips in a ‘shh’ gesture. “Don’t worry, I know all the kids are doing it, so you can tell me the truth.”

Shí yī, shí èr, shí sān, “Not really.”

“That might help with the sexual partners.”

_Shí bā, shí jiǔ, èr shí, èr shí yī, èr shí èr._

She gave him a minute to react. Instead he continued to stare at the ceiling, arms crossed and lips moving ever so slightly as he tried to remember if six was liù or wǔ. When it was clear she wasn’t going to get a rise out of him, she swiveled her chair around back to her desk and announced, “I’ll just need a moment to finish this and get you your prescription.”

“Thank you,” _you fucking maniac._

“My pleasure~” she sang. She shuffled her papers before getting up and leaving the room. She was back before Riku got to yì bǎi. But that was probably not due to her diligence or speed but the fact he got really confused on whether or not liù shí came before or after wǔ shí.

“Ta-da!” She handed him the white paper bag with the campus health center logo stamped on it as if she were doing him some wonderful favor instead of just her damn job. He went to reach for them but she quickly pulled it away with an “Ah-ah!” She wagged her finger at him. “Wait a minute! I know what I said about drinking earlier, but if you mix these with alcohol you will die.”

“Yep,” as if all this hadn’t been covered in the paperwork when he first got the prescription at the start of the semester. “I’m aware.”

“So don’t get too carried away during those winter break celebrations with all your friends and nine hundred and twenty eight sexual partners,” she told him before handing the bag over. Another wink on her part and she let go. And Riku was free to leave. 

Thank fucking god.

*

Riku spent all of Friday night awake, re-watching old Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends episodes for reasons beyond him. Before he knew it, then sun was rising, and without a break for sleep he spent the entirety of Saturday packing and freaking out. By the end of it, he was so exhausted mentally and emotionally he ended up crawling into bed at 5:00pm.

It was the weird kind of sleep where he was conscious of everything around him but still dreaming. Luckily, he was more asleep than awake, so it was easy to ignore his roommate coming into the room and turning on the lights. He wasn’t bothered by the sound of the shower running, or by the microwave beeping, or even when the phone started ringing.

It wasn’t until Tidus grabbed his arm and shook it, asking, “Do you know a Sora?” that Riku was forced to open his eyes groggily and try to offer some sort of consciousness.

“Mmmaybee?” He mumbled into his pillow. “Is he short?”

“I’m not asking him that! He says he…” Riku shut his eyes again and thought about the park near the house where he had grown up. He had seen a coyote there once, near sunset at the start of a summer. It had been awesome. Tidus’s voice washed over him like background music, only catching a brief “Art History” and a “Relief” and then a dull thump of a pillow being thrown at his back and a, “Please stop giving everyone my number like I’m your freaking secretary, dude.”

“Right-o,” Riku mumbled. He tried to give a thumbs up, but instead just ended up raising his hand and giving it a vague flop or two. He heard his roommate sigh, and Riku felt himself dip back out from a minute before rolling over and opening his eyes.

It was still the same level of brightness outside according to their one window on the far side of the room. The area was looking strangely clean, a state Riku hadn’t seen it in since their first day in the dorms. Tidus was standing over his bed, backpack slung over one shoulder and his hand holding onto the handle of an overstuffed suitcase.

Riku held up his hand to shield it from the afternoon light. “What time is it?” he grumbled, voice still heavy with sleep.

“Almost six,” Tidus replied.

“I’ve only been about an hour then?” Riku asked, sitting up and feeling a head rush. His mouth was incredibly dry and he could feel his hair sticking to the side of his face.

Tidus narrowed his eyes at Riku. “Try twenty-four.”

Well that explained why he felt like death. “Holy shit.” Having put off getting his prescription refill for as long as possible, he had resorted to taking half, and eventually fourth pills. His body must not have been ready to jump back to full pills.

“Yeaahhh,” Tidus said. “I gotta go meet my uber, she’s taking me to the airport.” Riku nodded vaguely, trying his best to take in he had slept for an entire day. And the fact that he was going to be homeless before the end of this one. “Anyway, that Sora guy said he’d try to get here as soon as he got off work.”

What? Riku scrubbed his face with his hands. “Why?”

“Uh…” Tidus stared him down. “Because he said you’re staying at his place during the break…?”

“What?!” Riku leapt to his feet. Oh. _Oh._ Big mistake. All the colors in the word meshed together as the shapes warped into one. Riku quickly sat back down. He swallowed hard, not that there was anything left in his stomach to try and come back up. “Am I really?” he asked, once the world stopped spinning.

Tidus rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. “I don’t know! That’s what he said on the phone! Riku-” he had to cut himself off and take a breath. “Riku, why don’t _you_ know this?!”

Riku shrugged. “I don’t know! He never told me anything.” 

“Okay, yeah,” Tidus said. “I can see that, he did seem a little all over the place on the phone,” he admitted. “But he seemed nice. Like, super nice if he’s letting you crash at his place for free.”

So he had a place to stay? That didn’t seem right. He slowly lowered himself back down. He needed to lie down to take this all in. “I think he’s an angel,” Riku mumbled, staring at the ceiling.

“I think you’re right,” Tidus agreed. “Anyway, I turned in our room key, so you’re free to leave whenever he shows up.” His phone buzzed and he pulled it out. “Shit, she says she’s here.”

“Okay,” Riku continued to stare, completely dazed. “Hope you have a nice christmas.”

“Yeah.” Tidus headed for the door. He reached for the handle, hesitated, then turned back to Riku. “Call me when you get a chance, okay?”

“Hmm?” Riku looked down from the ceiling. “Okay?”

“Because I want to make sure you’re not dead, asshole,” he added. Riku nodded mutely. His heart felt warmed by the gesture, but he didn’t have the words to explain that. A silence filled the room as the two continued to stare at each other. Finally, Tidus turned back to the door and said, “Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.”

He shut the door behind him. Riku sat back up. The nausea was fading, but he needed some water right away. He got up and filled his bottle at the sink, since the Brita filter had been packed away with his stuff. Then he started pacing, trying to digest the information.

In what had felt like an hour long nap but had really been a whole day, he had gone from being potentially homeless to waiting for a classmate to come pick him up. So he could stay at his house. For the break. Riku was going to kiss him when he showed up. Or give him a hug, that was probably more normal. Like, just run up and grab him and hold him up into the air. Wait, that wasn’t normal either. Whatever. Riku was going to do it.

There was a knock at the door and Riku, now an awake ball of energy and excitement, ran to open it. It was Sora, dressed in a plain black tee and stained jeans, with an apron slung over his shoulder and a hat on backwards.

“Hey!” Sora greeted him brightly despite looking exhausted.

Of course, as soon as being in the presence of another person, all Riku’s bubbly excitement and dopey grins faded. Did he say he was going to hug him? More like awkwardly stand in his doorway and offer a nod, averting his gaze.

“Hey,” Riku replied. “Thanks for doing this.”

“Yep!” Sora nodded enthusiastically. “Anytime, man.”

There was pause. Riku scratched at his arm. Sora continued to stand there, humming contentedly to himself and rocking back and forth on the ball of his heels. Riku felt like ‘thank you’ could never cover it, and he desperately racked his brains for something that better explained his gratitude.“You smell like french fries,” is what came out. It had slipped out from who knows where and Riku wanted to die the second after it left his mouth.

“Haha, yep,” Sora chuckled. “Burger King will do that to ya.” Sora peered into the room. “So… need help with your bags or anything?” 

Riku shook his head. “Ah- no sorry,” he turned around and hurried to grab his bags. He tripped over his own foot, just a little. Hopefully not enough for Sora to see. He patted down his pockets to make sure his phone and wallet were in there. Then he grabbed his bag and rolled it back to the doorway.

“We ready to go?” Sora asked. 

Riku nodded. “My roommate said he checked us out earlier, so I should be all set.”

“Cool, cool, cool.”

The two made their way down the dorm hallways and to the elevators. Riku’s heart was hammering in his chest, all his adrenaline and panic still in him but not sure where to go now that disaster wasn’t imminent. He tried to distract himself by asking, “So where is your place?”

Sora made a thoughtful face and then dramatically pointed in an arbitrary direction. Riku narrowed his eyes at him and Sora gave a chuckle. “Okay, okay,” he said. “It’s the southern suburbs, well, actually it’s a little out of city limits. Heard of Twilight?”

Riku gave a small shrug. He had kind of heard of it, but he also had no idea where anything was if it wasn’t on campus. “Isn’t that kind of far?” he asked, even though he really had no idea.

“It’s about an hour commute on the trains.” They stepped into the elevator and Riku punched the ground floor button. “But only a twenty minute drive if I’ve got the truck. Which I don’t. So trains it is.”

“That sounds pretty far to me,” Riku admitted.

“Eehh,” Sora waved his hand. “It’s whatever. I like the trains better, driving stresses me out.”

They stepped out of the elevator and Riku followed Sora as they headed for the direction of the station. The campus was a ghost town compared to how it had been during the semester, and Riku couldn’t help but feel unnerved by the uncharacteristically dark buildings and lack of students and staff. Plus, winter was starting to make itself known in earnest; the air was frigid and it was nearly black out despite the time.

Sora glanced down at his phone. “I think we can catch the six.” He bit his lip. “I’m gonna be so dang late for the kiddos. And on a school night!”

Riku nodded vaguely in acknowledgement, but he was distracted staring at the art department. It was almost unrecognizable without all the heavily tattooed student's chain smoking on the steps and- wait. What the fuck? 

Kids? 

Riku did his best to digest the information just dropped on him. “You have… kids?” the words came out slow and disbelieving. Sora may have said he was older than Riku, but he barely looked seventeen. Riku would have put him at twenty or twenty-one.

Sora gave him an incredulous look in the dim evening light. “I told you that.”

“Uh, you kind of just asked if I was gay and then took my number,” Riku reminded him. Sora gave a loud snort of laughter.

“Okay, yeah.” He fluffed up his hair with his hands in a frustrated sort of way, making it look even worse. “Sorry, I know I’m all over the place.” Riku was about to agree with him when Sora said, “That reminds me! Why’d you give me your roommates number?”

Riku glanced up at the sky and exhaled through his nose. “Part of that ‘long story’ I mentioned the other day. Why did you ask if I was gay?”

“Aha!” Sora grinned. “I figured if your parents kicked you out, you were either a bad boy, or you were a good boy but gay.” He pointed his finger at Riku, “I was right, right? Puh-retty clever!” Riku shrugged. Sora gave an exaggerated frown. “Hey! I’m putting a _lot_ of faith in your character right now, I need to know you’re a good boy! Tell me you’re a good boy.”

“Do I have to?” Riku asked.

“Yes! Tell me you’re a good boy, Riku.” Riku didn’t say anything. He stared ahead at the train stop on the corner of the Science department and kind of wondered if he’d rather be homeless. “I need to know you’re a good boy,” Sora told him seriously.

Riku took a large inhale before quickly muttering, _“...I’magoodboy.”_

Sora clapped his hands together. “Awesome! I knew it.”

Riku pulled up his jacket collar and felt the cold air hitting his flushed face. “...I never said my parents kicked me out.”

Sora gave him a pitying sort of smile. “You never said they didn’t.” 

Riku bit at his lip. He didn’t have a response.

*

When the two got to the boarding area, Sora flopped down on the bench and started fanning himself with his hat. Riku was already feeling pretty chilly and the bench looked metal, so he he chose to stand instead of literally freeze his ass off. The last traces of sunset were a deep, dull orange behind the city skyline’s haze, fighting for dominance with the thousands of twinkling man-made lights.

Riku wanted to ask about the kids again. He was insane curiously, but that’s what made him decide better of it. Sora was the one who had thrown him his only lifesaver when Riku had been drowning at sea. Riku didn’t need to put him on the spot with a bunch of intrusive questions just because Riku was a goody-two-shoes who didn’t know any teen parents and was curious about it.

But he did want to know Sora. Regardless of the fact they were going to be live together, Riku was just kind of curious about him. He decided to start with the basics. “So what’s your major?”

“Going bankrupt,” Sora answered, shooting a finger gun at Riku. Riku raised an eyebrow. “Just kidding,” Sora quickly amended. “Radiologic technologist.”

Riku was surprised. He had guessed Sora wasn’t an art major, but that’s just because a lot of others in the class weren’t either. Though Riku certainly hadn’t pegged him as any sort of medical student. Though between that and the kids and the job it explained why Sora looked more dead than alive most of the time. Figuring that wasn’t a very polite comment to respond with, however, Riku chose to ask, “So, where does Art History fit into radiology tech training?”

Sora laughed. “It was more just like I had a humanities credit I needed to fill, and I got to choose whatever, and I read on the school’s professor review site that Braig was a lunatic that couldn’t teach a class.” Riku noticed that Sora talked with his hands, gesturing left and right and all over for even a simple story. “So I was like, hey! I bet I could just sleep through this class. And I did.” Sora folded his arms over his chest in mock-seriousness and gave a somber nod. “It was great.”

“That guy is seriously unhinged,” Riku agreed. “Why hasn’t he been fired yet?”

“Yeahhhh,” Sora uncrossed his arms. “Jokes aside, that’s what really ticks me off about the university, it’s all prestigious in reputation but it seems pretty corrupt and mismanaged.” Sora frowned. “I mean, the fact that _everything_ is non-refundable, like tuition or meal plans? No exceptions? This place is so for-profit, I don’t care what they say.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice, despite the fact they were the only two around as far as the eye could see. “I heard he’s sleeping with the dean.”

Riku thought that explained a lot, and was about to say so aloud when he was interrupted by the loud arrival of the train in the distance, first visible as a far off light before quickly moving closer, flooding the two in bright yellow and pulling into the station with a shriek of wheels breaking on metal.

The automated female voice announced to stand clear of the doors and let passengers exit, then enter. It fell on no ears save Sora’s and Riku’s, as they swiped their college passes by the meter at the door and stepped into the empty train. 

Sora slumped down into a seat and Riku sat in the one across from him, keeping his suitcase held between his legs so it wouldn’t slide elsewhere. The train doors shut with another message from the robot lady, and the train quickly kicked back into gear. Riku was grateful for the heat pouring in from the vents above, he hadn’t realized how much he had been freezing until just now. Plus, now that the sun had set fully, it was only going to keep getting colder.

The city lights glowed brighter than ever, their blur visible from the windows as the train rushed past buildings and out of the city. Riku was surprised they had been the only two at the station and on the train. But then again, he and Tidus hadn’t left until the very last possible second. 

“Hey,” Sora voiced, abruptly bringing Riku back from where had spaced out to. “So, what’s your major?”

“Art,” Riku replied. It seemed a bit trivial compared to Sora’s future saving-people’s-lives career, and he felt weird saying it. But Sora didn’t seem to think along the same lines. He just grinned brightly and said “That’s sick! Pursuing what you love to do,” he ran a hand through his hair, never seeming to be able to keep his hands still while talking. “Not just doing some program you don't care about because it pays.”

Riku nodded mutely. Sora looked out the window and drummed beats absentmindedly against his leg or the seat. Because he didn’t know what else to say, and because the question was still sitting at the front of his mind, Riku ventured to ask, “So… kids?”

“Yep, two of ‘em.” Sora smiled fondly. “There’s Xion, she’s like, the world’s biggest sweetheart. And Roxie, he’s twelve, he might be a little…” Sora looked concerned. “Well, he’s a good kid. Just can be a bit,” vague hand gesture, “at first. Y’know?” Riku just nodded silently again. He did not know. Not at all. In fact, he was left with more questions now. Like, what was up with those names? How old was Sora? What was Riku going to do? He shouldn’t have lied and said he was good with kids, what if he had to babysit and accidently killed them.

Silence crept back into the train, this time with an uncomfortable heaviness to it. Well, on Riku’s part at least. Sora was still happily tapping out rhythms into the seat. Riku sat and worried about the possibility of killing children with incompetence and good intentions. This continued for the rest of the ride, Riku unsure of what to say and Sora apparently content with the quiet. 

Before long, the train was announcing that they had arrived at Twilight’s station. Sora hopped up and stretched and Riku grabbed his bag. The station was dimly lit and grimy, a handful of people were sat on the benches all looking cold and worn out. Riku followed Sora past the parking lot to the street, where Sora stopped and leaned against the fence.

Before Riku could ask anything, Sora looked up at his expression. “Gotta wait for the bus now,” he explained. At the risk of sounding ungrateful, Riku decided against saying what a nightmare all this public transportation was. 

*

It was another ten or so minutes before the bus even came, and then about twenty until they stopped at ‘Station Heights’ and then however dang long it took to walk through the neighborhood until they came to a street lined with small houses, Riku wasn’t sure. His teeth were chattering, but Sora seemed fine. Then again, this probably wasn’t that cold to a native.

The houses on the street were all in decent condition. The houses didn’t scream money like Riku or Naminé's parent's had, but instead the houses did politely murmur that they were well-adjusted-middle-class. They were mostly one story a single car garage and decently maintained yards, even if the street itself was on the worse for ware side. Sora stopped at the last house on the street, a particularly small one that was faded blue in the night light with a yard that definitely needed more attention. 

Following Sora, Riku stepped up onto the porch. Sora hesitated in unlocking the door. He turned around to face Riku.

“Hey,” he started.

“Hey,” Riku said back, wishing they could have whatever conversation this was going to be inside of the warm-looking little house.

The light spilling out from the house onto the porch was dim and it was hard to tell Sora’s expression. “You know, I kind of assume the best of everyone,” he told Riku, voice low. “I genuinely believe you’re a good guy-”

“Thank-”

“But this is probably something that needs to be said,” Sora cut him off. He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled. “When I was in eighth grade, I was suspended for a month.” Riku felt an unnerving feeling creep over him, not liking Sora’s tone or dark expression. “I broke a kid’s arm. In two different places,” Sora spoke slowly, making sure Riku payed attention to every word. “And that was just a month suspension. That’s not even what I got expelled for.” 

Sora took a step closer. “So, just a fair warning. If it turns out you're not such a good guy, maybe you’ll find out I’m not one either.” 

He stared Riku down for a long while and Riku did his best to maintain eye contact, not wanting to give Sora any reason to think Riku was untrustworthy. “Got it?”

Riku quickly nodded. Sora had got the message across, he was intimidating when he wanted to be.

“Good!” at breakneck speed, Sora was back to looking like the non-threatening, dorky classmate Riku thought he knew. Sora immediately turned back to unlock the door, giving Riku a chance to let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Needless to say, he had not expected that.

“Oh! I forgot!” Sora whirled around. “No swearing, at all!” Riku simply nodded again, still trying to recover from Sora essentially threatening to break his arm. Or worst. “No, I’m serious!” He prodded a finger into Riku’s chest. “You told me you’re a good boy, so I better not hear any cursing, okay?”

“Okay,” Riku agreed. Satisfied, Sora grinned and then opened the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	3. In which Riku learns the wifi password

Sora kicked off his shoes in a pile by the door, hung up the hat and apron on a rack that was overflowing with jackets of various sizes, colors, and states of shabbiness. Riku, unsure if he should follow suite, just stood there and looked around the room.

It was messy, but not in the same way Tidus’s side of the dorm had been. There was just an excess of stuff and none of it seemed to know where to go. The living room was cramped with a couch that was too large for the small space, and there were piles of books and dvds and games scattered around on the coffee table and adjacent kitchen counter. 

“You can put your stuff on,” Sora looked around the room. “Well, anywhere you can find.” Sora laughed to himself. “Until we figure out something better, you’re on the sofa, so feel free to put your bag down here.” Sora pushed the coffee table closer to the couch, and Riku set his bag down on the floor.

Sora frowned, looking at the scattered dvd cases littered on the rug. Beneath them, Riku could almost see the tan carpet. “I swear, these dang kids,” he grumbled, getting on his knees and opening the cabinet under the television. “I can’t be mad though, because they get it from me, right?” he added with a sigh, putting away the disks.

Riku heard a door shut and looked to where it had come from. A kid entered the room. He looked to be in middle school, so Riku figured this must be Roxie. He was wearing an angry expression and a green flannel rolled up to show a dozen rubber black band wristbands. He gave a nervous look at Riku and then turned to Sora, who was getting up and dusting off his jeans. “Hey.”

“Roxie!” Sora exclaimed, grabbing him and ruffling his hair vigorously. The kid made a grumbling noise and tried to squirm out of Sora’s headlock. As soon as Sora was done Roxie quickly pushed his hair back to the side, looking offended at Sora having messed it up. To Riku, it looked equally messy prior to the ruffling and didn’t see the issue. “Xion in your room?”

The boy nodded. “We were playing Mario Kart. She fell asleep.”

“You make her dinner?” Sora asked. He nodded again, and Sora smiled. “Thanks a million, kiddo.” And with that, Sora left the room and Riku felt his heart stop. Great, now he was alone with this kid. He had no idea how to talk to kids. The two stared at each other. The room felt smaller than ever.

Riku offered his hand out for a handshake. The kid slow blinked at him in return.

“Roxie, right?” Riku asked.

“Ack! _No!_ ” He crossed his arms. “Did Sora tell you that? It’s Roxas! Rox-as!” He looked Riku up and down, “And who are you, scrub?”

“Riku,” he replied automatically. Roxas’s lips twitched at a smile. Riku wished he hadn’t responded to ‘scrub.’ He scratched at the back of his neck. “So... your Sora’s son?”

Roxas rolled his eyes with an accompanying groan. “Yes, he’s my dad.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm. “My pimp ass brother got a girl knocked up when he was what, nine?”

“Oh,” Riku mumbled. That made more sense. So Sora was only about twenty or so. 

“So how old are you?” Roxas asked. “Like, eighty?” Riku didn’t respond. People often guessed older than nineteen, sometimes by a lot, but this kid was obviously fucking with him. “I’m just asking because your bleach job went wrong and now you look eighty.” 

Riku didn’t think he would get along well with kids, but he never thought the day would come that he wanted to punch a twelve year old. Besides, Roxas clearly had also bleached his hair, the color of blonde looked unnatural. Plus he was only a little lighter in skin tone than Sora.

Roxas stared him down for awhile longer before scoff-laughing and muttering the word, “Scrub,” again. Sora walked back into the room a second later.

“So!” Sora clapped his hands, causing them both to break the intense staring-contest and turn to him. “Xion told me, that being the wonderful big brother you are, you cooked the two of you a wonderful, delicious meal of stove top macaroni, broccoli, and hot dogs like I asked. But!” Roxas looked nervous. “But,” Sora shook his head sadly. “That in your eagerness to feed our beautiful baby sister, you yourself neglected to eat your vegetables.”

 _”Traitor,”_ Roxas muttered under his breath.

“Don’t blame her.” Sora snapped his fingers and pointed to the kitchen. “Go eat your vegetables.”

“I’m not hungry,” Roxas grumbled.

“No, you’re hungry,” Sora told him. He was still good natured but managed to be stern at the same time. “So go eat your vegetables.” Roxas shot Riku a withering look as if this were all his fault. _Get rekt,_ Riku caught himself thinking, but then stopped himself. He didn’t need to have a petty rivalry with a twelve year old just because he called Riku a scrub. That would be stupid. Riku inhaled, exhaled, and then decided he was just going to forget their interaction. 

“You want some mac-n-cheese, Riku?” Sora asked.

Riku remembered he hadn’t eaten anything in more than twenty four hours. Macaroni and cheese with broccoli and hot dogs sounded like the best possible thing in the entirety of existence. 

“Sure, thanks,” Riku said with a shrug. “I could use some mac-n-cheese.”

There was a mutter of _”scrub,”_ from the kitchen that Sora didn’t hear, but Riku certainly did.

*

It was three in the morning and Riku promised himself for the hundredth time that he was going to make an effort to keep his sleep schedule regular. He had done this many times before, but today he meant it. Because at the dorms or at his old house, he had wi-fi and with it an endless amount of dumb stuff to watch on Netflix, and a comfortable bed to toss and turn on.

But now, lying on his back with most of his leg going off the sofa and his arms awkwardly on his chest because there was nowhere else to put them, he had the motivation to make sure this didn’t happen again. Plus, he had done just about the dumbest thing of his life and had forgotten to ask for the wi-fi password, so now all he had to entertain him was the electrical hum of the fridge.

He pulled the blanket Sora had given him up over his face, blocking out the light from the front porch that was spilling dimly into the room because like all humans, Riku had the worse superpower ever: to gain heightened awareness of light and sound only when desperately trying to sleep.

Riku lay there, eyes shut, contemplating his mixed feeling about the couch. On one hand, he hated it because it took up too much room in the living room and he had stubbed his toe on it earlier, and yet at the same time was pretty much all armrest so it was impossible to sleep on. But of course, on the other hand, he felt incredibly grateful to be on it. And guilty, because he barely knew Sora but he knew that Sora had a lot on his plate, and Riku had gone and added to it.

Riku decided first chance he got he was going job hunting, getting whatever crappy entry-level job he could find, and working his butt off until he could pay Sora back and move somewhere else, getting out of the guy’s messy hair. With that thought, the heaviness in Riku’s eyes sunk him down, and the world slowed around him.

*

A car backfired, there was a door opening, the rustle of fabric, the sound of a lightswitch. Next came a door opening, then the sound of clanging and the click of a gas stove before igniting. The sounds washed over Riku, mixing with his dream, and then he woke with a start. As always it came with an intense rush of nausea, and like most of the time, he didn’t feel awake at all, just jump-started from the dead.

Everything ached to the utmost degree and his mouth felt so dry his tongue may as well have been made out of cotton. Riku sat up slowly, trying to remember where he was and what year it happened to be. His head was fuzzy, but he acknowledged he obviously wasn’t on a bed. Maybe it was Naminé’s floor? 

As he pulled the blanket off his head, he was assaulted by sunlight and a messy living room. Slowly he remembered what year it was and that he wasn’t in highschool anymore. Then the rest of it came, and he pieced together the weekend, and felt relief wash over him again that he wasn’t actually homeless.

Getting off the couch he stumbled his way carefully through the hazardous living room to the connect kitchen, filling up his water bottle at the sink. Yawning, Riku looked around and started notice a few things. He hadn’t really noticed it the night before, but the kitchen was so tacky and 70s with tan laminate countertops and wallpaper with a pattern that was far too busy and orange.

Riku leaned against the counters, which had been cleaned from last night and nearly spat out his mouthful of water when he noticed what else was in the kitchen alongside himself two plates of bacon and eggs arranged into smiley faces.

The ballerina shutting off the stove seemed equally startled by him. She was staring at him with her mouth open.

Riku rubbed at his eyes, wondering if he was still dreaming. But when he opened his eyes she was still there, dressed in nothing but pointe shoes, a black leotard, and lilac leg warmers despite the forty-degree weather outside. Short red hair, freckled from head to toe, and big blue eyes staring at him, clearly just as confused as he was.

“Who _are_ you?” she asked.

“Riku Chao,” he answered, wondering if he was allowed to ask her the same thing. 

“No.” She shook her head. “No, why are you here?”

If only he knew himself. “Uh, I’m from the university?” Riku scratched at the back of his neck. “Sora is- was, my classmate. And uh, I’m staying here until the dorms open back up?”

“You’re not!” She gasped. Then she shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, slumping against the countertop. “No! Nope, no you’re not!”

“Uh…”

“Sora...why…” She scrubbed at her face. “Why do you keep doing these things?” She opened her eyes and looked at Riku again. “No, this is a first. A human is definitely a first.” She muttered to herself, “This is so much worst than when he left Roxas keep that fucking broken-leg roadkill rabbit.”

Riku stared at her, not sure what else to say. “Sorry, I’m just-” she shook her head. “Fucking Sora! I’m going to kill him!” With that, she stormed out of the room. She left Riku still holding his water bottle and staring at the wall. Before Riku even got a chance to process what had happened she was back, grabbing the plates. 

She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, this isn’t really your fault,” she told him. “But you have to understand there’s enough shit going on right now, you really shouldn’t be here. I mean…” she bit her lip. “What’s he charging you?”

Riku was hesitant. She definitely wasn’t going to like his answer. He tried wording it carefully, not wanting to mention the no-job or no-money thing. “We haven’t discussed that yet.”

“Oh, of course you haven’t,” she spat. “Fuck me!” She left again. 

In the few hours he had been here, he had already been cussed out by a twelve year old and a ballerina. Not a great start. Riku sighed. He got his tooth brush from his suitcase, as well as something to wear, and then left the joint kitchen-living room into a hallway, looking for a bathroom. On his left was a stairway down into the basement, and on his right were two doors. One wrapped with yellow caution tape and adorned with a ‘Keep Out!’ sign, made from paper and written in sharpie. The other was decorated with a wreath of seashells. Clearly home made, but still made well.

Luckily, the bathroom door on the left was open, and Riku didn’t have to take his chances of upsetting more people by accidentally knocking on the wrong door.

The bathroom was almost as bad as the kitchen, with more unnersercaily busy wallpaper. At least it wasn’t orange. Riku brushed his teeth and looked at his exhausted expression in the grimy mirror, giving an occasional glance to the shower in the corner, wondering if he felt gross enough to brave it.

In the end, feeling clammy from a night of sweating on an uncomfortable couch won out and Riku stepped into the tub and struggled with the taps, first freezing himself, and then burning himself before finding a bearable temperature. The water pressure made a shrieking noise, as if this old and worn house didn’t have any energy left to hold itself upright, let alone provide showers.

*

Finding a clean towel under the sink, Riku dried off and changed out of the sweatpants and sweatshirt into a hoodie and jeans, before opening the door and letting the muggy steam out in the hallway.

There was a little girl standing outside in the hallway. She blinked in surprise at Riku, and he blinked in surprise back, frozen in place, hand still on the doorknob. 

This was probably Xion, he figured, the girl the two talked about last night. Riku wasn’t great at guessing ages, having never really been around kids. She was short and he would have put her around five-to-seven or something. She looked a lot like Sora and Roxas, but with the only good hair he had yet to see on an Ihara. It was cut short like the ballerina’s had been, but dark black and not sticking everywhere. She also had blue eyes, and looked more caucasian than her brothers.

She was dressed in a severely oversized black hoodie, the sleeves going limp where they ran past her arms, and the bottom reaching to her knees, covering neon green tights with a blue butterfly pattern. They stared at each other for a second longer, and Riku took his hand off the door to offer a handshake or maybe a high five if that’s what five-to-seven year olds were into. She let out a nervous squeak and pulled the hood over her face, nervously inching past him into the bathroom and quickly shutting the door behind her.

Riku sighed. Another person reacting badly at the sight of him. This was almost as bad as that time he had looked at a baby and it instantly burst into tears. Well, at least almost had everyone straight. He just needed to find out who the ballerina was.

Within a second after thinking that, the ballerina came up the stairs into the hall, face scrunched up in annoyance.

“Did you talk to him?” Riku asked, interested since her goal was to get him kicked out. He tried to ignore the panicked squirm his guts did, anticipating her answer.

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t want to wake him up. Boy needs his sleep,” she huffed. “I left him a very long and very angry letter.”

There was a pause between the two. Slowly, her expression changed as the girl’s anger seemed to ebb. She gave a nervous smile and ran a hand through her hair. “Uhm, do you want me to show you how to work the coffee pot? It’s a bit finicky at times.”

The heaviness in Riku’s eyelids still hadn’t gone away, even after the shower, and he knew it was a ailment that couldn’t be cured by anything but coffee. Well, actually, a regular and healthy sleep schedule maybe. But in the meantime, coffee would have to do.

“That would be great, thanks.” She smiled at him and beckoned for him to follow as she left the hallway. Grateful someone was talking to him for once instead of just freaking out at the sight of him, Riku followed.

*

After making himself a cup (and really, like most things in the dorm, the trick for the coffee pot was just to smack it in a certain place,) the ballerina left the room again. Riku thought he needed to learn her name and stop calling her ‘The Ballerina,’ but it seemed too late to ask now.

Riku sat down at the table in the corner of the kitchen where Roxas was munching on bacon and staring at him with a deathly expression. “You’re still here?” he asked Riku the second he sat down at the table. Riku wondered if it was still okay to hit children, or if that was outdated by now.

“Sure,” Riku said with a shrug, already sick of being in the same room as him. On the bright side, he was no longer anxious at being around the kid. Just horribly annoyed by him.

Roxas took another bite of bacon, chewing angrily with narrowed eyes. “So, have trouble with airports?”

What?

“Because of the entire scrapyard jammed into your ears,” Roxas elaborated, gesturing to Riku’s heavily pierced ears. Riku sipped his drink again, deciding not to honor that with a response. He didn’t have a good one anyway.

“Alright, kiddo,” the ballerina called, startling both of them. “Stop harassing your brother’s friend and go brush your teeth.” She reached across the table to collect the finished plate. Roxas frowned at her before getting up.

“Sorry, he’s not usually like this,” she told Riku, sighing. “Or, he didn’t used to be. Kind of a punk these days.” Riku wondered if this is what Sora had meant by his vague hand gesture when explaining Roxas on the train last night.

“He doesn’t seem to like me,” Riku told her.

“I don’t blame him,” she shrugged. “I’d be mad if someone just showed up in my house.” Ow. “Anyway, don’t let him fool you. He’s actually a really good kid.”

“I can help,” Riku offered, standing up. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“I think I got two plates and forks covered, but thank you, Mr. Freeloader.” Ouch. Again. Just when he thought she might have been warming up to him. She snapped at him with a damp dish towel. “I’m just mean and it’s just true, don’t take it personally.” Then she offered smile.

Riku nodded, expression neutral. He felt a bit too shit to return it.

“And you! Put on better shoes!” Riku glanced up to see her pointing at Roxas, who had been trying to sneak past the kitchen to the front door.

“Why?” He snapped back. “I’m poor. This is what all my shoes look like, Kairi.”

“No they are not, I bought you new shoes last week, mister.” The ballerina, apparently named Kairi, told him. She was easily more bossy and strict than Sora. “You just think you’re banged-up converse look cool, now put on some boots in case it snows.”

Roxas groaned. “It’s been saying it’ll snow for a week! It won’t snow!”

“Now!”

He gave out a dramatic huff before kicking off the green converse and adding them to the pile at the door. “You’re wearing ballet slippers,” he grumbled.

“These are pointe shoes!” Kairi told him smugly. Like Sora, she went back to smiling quickly, the tension leaving the room. “I’m an adult, I’m allowed to do whatever I want,” she dried off her hands and made her way to the front door. “Stop being twelve and you can wear pointe shoes to school too.”

She ruffled his hair from where he kneeled on the floor, lacing up his boots. “I’m working on it, Kai,” he muttered. It was the first thing out of his mouth Riku had heard that wasn’t hostile. He just sounded sad.

*

The ballerina put on a coat, and Xion appeared, still nervous and standing at the opposite corner of the room from Riku, hood still on. Kairi scooped her up in her arms with ease, which didn’t surprise Riku. Kairi was toned as hell and Xion probably wouldn’t have tipped a scale at fifty pounds soaking wet. 

Riku couldn’t hear what Kairi was telling her, but her voice was softer than what Riku was used to from the redhead. Roxas said something too, and then shot Riku a withering look. Riku sighed into his cup. Kairi announced they were leaving. The door opened, there was the sound of an engine misfiring, then eventually starting up, followed by wheels on the pavement. Then there was silence in the house.

An hour after they had gone, Sora woke up. 

Riku, unsure of what to do with himself sat cross legged on the couch, flipping through the channels. He was more entertained by the fact there was only fifty of them than anything the channels themselves had to offer.

“Mornin’” called a tired voice, and Riku glanced up to see a very underdressed Sora holding a garfield mug in one hand and scratching at his bare chest with the other. In fact, he was wearing nothing but a tired, but content expression and… boxers. With the snowman from Frozen on them. Olaf or whatever his name was. Riku stared at them longer than he meant to. 

“Nice boxers,” Riku finally said when he managed to look away, casting a sideways glance at the wall so he wouldn’t have to look at Sora’s shirtless chest.

“Right?” He couldn’t see Sora’s smile in his peripheral vision, but he could hear the dopey grin. “They were the same price as a regular pack, and I was like, well I am nothing if not a man of fine taste.” Riku nodded, still not making eye-contact. Sora chuckled, “I can go put on pants.”

“No, you can do whatever makes you comfortable.” Riku was too polite for his own good.

“Cool,” Riku glanced up in time to see Sora’s hand on the waistband about to tug it down. “I’ll just take these off then.”

Riku quickly sucked in the sip he had taken so that he didn’t spit it out all over the coffee table. The hot liquid went down the wrong way and he spent a minute coughing and pounding his fist against his chest in a non-successful attempt to try and breathe again. When he could, he noticed Sora, still wearing his boxers, was laughing at him.

“Sorry, that was mean,” Sora admitted, still chuckling. “I’m kidding. You’re obviously super uncomfortable.” Sora ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll put on pants.” 

Riku just nodded. But after a moment Sora still didn’t make any move to get clothes. “I don’t want to put on any dang pants,” he admitted with a sigh. He pulled the throw blanket off the side of the couch and draped it over his shoulders, the fabric covering him until about mid-thigh.

“There we go,” he told Riku cheerfully, sitting beside him. “Meetchya half way.” 

Not sure what the proper response was, Riku just nodded again. “I forgot you were even here, to be honest,” Sora told him with a yawn. “Sorry, not used to having beautiful men sleep on my couch.”

Riku really did spit out his coffee this time. Sora laughed again, but this time didn’t offer any apologies or a ‘just kidding’ after Riku had recovered. Instead, he just offered a tissue and, “So, I see you met Kairi?”

“The ballerina?” Riku asked. Sora chuckled.

“Yep, the ballerina.” He took a sip of his own cup of coffee, which Riku couldn’t help but notice had whip cream on it. Sora didn’t mention the letter. Riku decided to take this as a good sign. “She’s at the studio first thing in the morning, so she’s still got the whole outfit on when she takes the kids to school.” 

That made sense. Though Riku still thought she was either crazy or just intensely badass for braving the frigid air and sky that was threatening snow with only a coat and leggings. Curious about one other thing, Riku decided he should ask, “Is she Xion’s mom?”

Sora’s eyebrows shot up and gave a sort of disbelieving laugh. “Holy cow! Did you think that?”

Riku shrugged, feeling stupid again. “To be fair, I was under the impression that both of them were your kids at first.”

Sora laughed even harder. “Man,” he said. “I guess that’s my fault, I just call them ‘the kids.’ Nah, just siblings. And Kairi… do you think they look alike or something?”

Riku shrugged. He had been doing a lot of that lately, not very talkative to begin with. His whole life seemed to have been thrown into this crazy mix, and now he didn’t know what was what, let alone proper responses. 

“Man, you should tell Xion that. That would make her so happy.” With the hand that wasn’t holding the sickeningly-sweet looking coffee, Sora pointed at his own bangs. “Have you noticed they’ve got the same haircut?” They did it on purpose, it’s so cute.”

Riku hadn’t noticed that, though maybe that’s why he thought they looked related. That, and he was just confused as to how Kairi fit into the picture at all. “Is she your girlfriend?”

“Nah, just my soul mate.”

“Are you guys, like married, or-?”

Sora cut him off with a laugh. “Nah, she’s waaay too good for me. She just does more to help me than she ever should, y’know?”

Riku gave another noncommittal shrug.

“Man you must be confused,” Sora smiled sheepishly. “Okay, so the run down is, Xion and Roxas are my siblings- same mom, different dads. And Kairi is just the coolest person ever and a good driver and is the part-time owner of the world’s most busted ford truck.”

“Does she live here too?” Riku asked, wondering how many people could fit in such a small house.

“Nope,” Sora took a sip of his coffee. “And Kairi’s got her own place over at Tram Commons, by the studio. So don’t worry, only four people in the two-bedroom, one-bathroom house.”

“So your mom isn’t here either?”

Sora gave a faint laugh at that, then shook his head and took another sip of his coffee. He didn’t say anything else on the subject, and Riku knew better than to ask. So instead, he decided to voice the question that weighed heaviest on his mind.

“Oh! Before I forget, what’s the wifi password?”

Sora gave an amused half-smile. “At the end of the street, three blocks over and up that hill.” He jerked his thumb to the left of the room.

Riku pulled out his phone, eyebrows furrowed, trying to figure out how to fit that in the character limit. Sora laughed. “Sorry, I mean that’s where the library is.” Riku looked up, confusion still clearly etched into his expression. “We don’t have internet.”

Riku blanched. He couldn’t help it. Sora was amused. 

“What time is it?” Sora asked, scooting closer to look at Riku’s phone.

“Almost nine-thirty.” 

Sora stuck out his tongue. “Bleh, I gotta get ready for work.”

Within ten minutes, Sora was back upstairs and dressed. Surprisingly, in a different uniform tee from yesterday. “Different job,” Sora explained, seeing Riku’s face. “I’ve got three.”

“ _Three?!_ ” It came out of Riku’s mouth before he could help it.

Per the norm, Sora just laughed. He told Riku he could make himself a pb-and-j or something if he wanted, and departed with a cheerful goodbye. Then it was just Riku left with nothing but the hum of fridge and a whole lot to wonder about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anndd we have seen roxas! and xion! and kairi! Haha I'm so excited for all of them in this fic. thanks for reading!


	4. In which Riku makes a phone call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i cant believe its almost been a year! im so sorry! i hope updates will become a bit more regular now. i'm rediscovering my groove.

Riku rubbed at his eyes. The letters on the textbook were starting to blur and slip down the page. His head started to slump forward, and black bangs spilled in front of his eyes. Considering he couldn’t read through his hair, and that he had no energy to push it back behind his ear, Riku simply gave into sweet temptation and laid his head down.

What Riku hoped was only a second later, but knowing his luck was probably a few hours from when he fell asleep, he jerked awake. Someone had softly tugged the book out from under his face and then bonked him on the head with it.

“Good morning,” a soft voice murmured. Riku blearily opened his eyes to see Naminé, one hand on her hip and the other holding his chemistry book, peering down at him.

Riku groaned, tiredly reaching up for the book. His head was starting to ache. “Please don’t tell me I slept all night.”

She straightened up, giving him a pitying sort of smile. “No, only a few minutes,” she told him. “I woke you up because they’re going to close down the library soon.”

Riku dug his palms into his eyes and yawned heavily. Pushing back his bangs with his hand, he looked around the library. Sure enough, the usually overpowering overhead fluorescent lights had been shut off, only enough dim light remained so that people could make their way to the doors. The little corner table that the two had made their base of operations now belonged only to them, and the rest of the tables and desks had all been deserted.

So Naminé was right, it was nearly midnight. Usually the school library closed at eight, but since it was college application season for the seniors and finals for all, it was open an extra four hours. When he first started his freshman year, Riku hadn’t understood why. Now after three years in high school he couldn’t imagine what he would do without those extra hours. As he stretched out his stiff muscles and rubbed his forehead, trying to stave off the coming headache from being hunched over for so long, he watched Naminé pack up her things.

She looked tired too, and even in the dim light he could see the graphite smudges on her hand from excessive note-taking. It seemed even as a first-year, she too was learning the importance of extended library hours.

“Did you get all your homework done?” he asked her, standing up and gathering his own notes and books. Naminé hesitated, then shook her head.

“Do you want me to help you?” Riku asked, feeling a nervous twinge for her. He still remembered his old teachers quite well, and they were not pushovers. “I think we might have a few more minutes.”

“Do we?” Naminé replied, looking up at the large standard clock beside the fading, outdated food pyramid poster. 

Riku yawned, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “Sure, why not? Let’s just stay until someone tells us to leave.”

Riku saw a light come on behind her eyes, and she put her backpack on as well. “You think so?” He nodded, and she grinned, getting up and walking away.

“Hey!” Riku called, following after her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t go over your work if it’s in your bag,” he reprimanded.

She shrugged off his hand, still grinning. “Oh, not about the homework. I want to show you something.”

“Wha-?” Riku stopped. “Have you been goofing off while I was asleep?”

Naminé giggled, but gave no other reply than a ‘follow me’ hand wave before turning and taking off past the desks, to a dark corner of the library. Riku paused, then rolled his eyes and followed after her.

The bookshelves were tall and dusty. This was the foreign section, and it was hardly used. Even the language students didn’t usually come by this section, as these were not educational books, but simply novels and fairy tales written in different languages. They were so neglected they made Riku a little sad, but that might have just been the exhaustion getting to him.

Naminé continued, weaving her way through shelves. The library slowly became less and less familiar as they went deeper into the section, leaving the dim lights of the study room behind them. Naminé paused for a second, and looked around, before stopping and pushing aside a small bookshelf.

“I really don’t think you should-”

She held up her finger to her lips and frowned at him, barely visible in the darkness. She continued pushing aside the shelf. Riku squinted and realized that the books were already on their sides in a scramble as if this wasn’t their first time rudely being jostled around. 

Naminé only had to move it about a foot until he could see the dusty old door behind it. She opened it as it gave a horrible old creak. It was wide enough for her slender frame to easily slip through, and Riku’s gangly self to just barely cram himself in.

He felt Naminé pull him through and then shut the door behind him. She fumbled with something in the darkness while he tried to look around. He couldn’t see anything, but the space felt cold and cramped. “Naminé what the hell is this?” he asked, feeling a rush of uncertainty and his stomach contract tightly with nerves.

“You’ll see,” she murmured, “I uhm- Oh!” Riku was assaulted with a beam of bright white light. “Sorry, Riku! I was trying to get my phone flashlight.”

“Yes,” he groaned, rubbing at his eyes. “I saw. Good job.”

Once his eyes adjusted from darkness to bright light to decently lit, he looked around. There was a musty smell and the walls were worn and too close for comfort. The ceiling was high enough, but it was starting to peel so it felt claustrophobically right above their heads. Broken wood and building pieces and dust lay all over the floor, like an abandoned building right before demolition.

“What is this, Naminé?” he asked again, feeling unnerved. He pulled out his own phone and turned on the light as well.

“I don’t know, I just found it,” she told him, her voice awed. “I think it’s just part of the library that was abandoned during the renovations.” She began to walk down the narrow hallway, and he felt his heart give a panicked thump, torn between leaving and following her.

“You coming?” she called, and with one last look at the door he carefully walked over the broken boards and nails after her.

“Something like this should be locked up,” he said testily, ducking his head so that the hanging bits of ceiling didn’t touch him.

“It was,” Naminé told him, sounding nervous. “...But the lock was practically rusted away, so…”

“Naminé!” he groaned. Riku shook his leg, trying to get the decrepit building dust off his sneakers. “I mean, why would you even go into a place like this?”

He couldn’t see her face in the low light, but he could still clearly see in his mind the grin he knew was spreading across her face.

*

“It has to go here!” Sora whined, pulling the futon back. Kairi gave her third high pitched noise of frustration that afternoon. Riku stood in the doorway of the kitchen, watching, too scared to go into the living room.

“No, Sora! I don’t want to have to step over some random sleeping guy everytime I have to get into the kitchen!” Kairi snapped back for the umpteenth time.

“Kairi!” Sora whined again, then stopped, frowning. “I know, but it’s my house…”

“It’s _my_ futon!”

“I know but…” Sora looked even more upset, watching as she dragged the futon to the corner of the room. “Where are we gonna put the christmas tree?” he asked, quietly.

“How about in your savings account?” Kairi shot back. “You don’t have the room, _or_ the money this year Sora, just admit it.” 

Both Riku and Kairi instantly knew she had gone too far. Sora gave a defeated slump, flopping down onto the sofa. Of all things, Sora’s expression reminded Riku of a heart shaped, half-inflated nylon balloon he had seen in the mall parking garage a week after Valentines, years ago. Naminé had taken a picture of it, saying it was too poetically tragic not to.

Riku decided since he was the cause of all this drama, he might as well step in. “Hey, I appreciate it,” he began. The two looked up at him and he cleared his throat nervously. “But if it’s too much work I’m fine with the sofa.” Sora shook his head mutely. 

“No way, this thing is too uncomfortable to spend one night on, let alone one more.” Kairi told him. Sora raised an eyebrow at her and she frowned, mumbling, “...or however many nights you need to get back on your feet.”

It was the afternoon of Riku’s second day at the Ihara household. That morning, unable to sleep and already awake hours before Kairi arrived to take the kids to school, Riku had offered to help her make breakfast for everyone. “Thanks, I’m exhausted, you make breakfast and I’ll take a nap,” she had said in response. However, after only about five minutes into Riku staring at pancake batter, wondering how he was supposed to make them into pancakes, Kairi reappeared. Rubbing her back, she informed him, “That couch is the most uncomfortable thing in existence, no wonder you look like shit.”

Kairi had promised to see if she could get her old futon out of storage after taking the kids to school, and sure enough, an hour later returned with one rolled-up in her arms. The two had spent the rest of the morning rearranging the living room to make room for it, only for Sora to come home from work and start moving everything around again.

Sora sighed and stood up. “We’ll worry about the tree when it gets closer to christmas, I guess.” Kairi rolled her eyes and threw her hands up into the air.

“Do _you_ see anywhere to put a tree in here?” She asked Riku. Riku shrugged, not wanting to take a side and get the two all riled up again. Though he did agree with Kairi. This house barely had enough room to fit the people in it, let alone any additional decorations. She scowled at Riku too before turning around. “I’ll go pick up the kids, Sora,” Kairi told him.

“No, you should get back to the studio,” Sora replied. “I’ll just walk to the school, it’s not far.”

“Alright,” Kairi walked to the door with the air of a defeated person, but hesitated when she got there. Her hand rested on the knob for a moment, then slid off, back at her side. She turned around to Sora, but didn’t look quite at him. “Love you.”

Sora smiled, “I love you too, Kai.”

She returned his expression, looking relieved, and then left. The second the truck started, Riku heard Sora mumble to himself about there possibly being an old, artificial tree he could get out of the garage.

Sora stood up and ran his hand through his hair, walking to the coat rack and throwing on a winter jacket over his work shirt. “You should come too, man,” Sora told him. “The school’s right by the library.” When Riku just gave him a blank look in response, Sora added, “For internet and stuff.”

“Oh.” Riku nodded. “Yeah.”

Sora bit his lip. “I mean, you’re still looking for jobs, right?”

“Of course,” Riku told him, standing up as well. He tried not to show the mere mention of job hunting had turned is stomach into a bag of bricks.

Sora broke into another wide grin. “Alright! That’s what I like to hear!” He looked Riku up and down, narrowing his eyes at Riku’s hoodie. Sora rummaged around through the overflowing pile of coats. “Hear, wear this.” Sora tossed him a puffy, black jacket.  
Riku caught it. He put it on, apprehensively. Sure enough, it stopped at his ribcage and the sleeves didn’t make it all the way down his forearms.

Sora appeared to be trying his best not to laugh. “Well, we’ll figure out something better later.” Sora pulled out keys from his pocket. “In the meantime, we got some kiddos to get.”

Riku paused, an awkward thought occurred to him. “Uh, Sora?”

“Yessir?”

“What phone number should I put on the applications?” He couldn’t exactly keep using Tidus’s number. Sora, surprisingly, perked up.

“Well, Riku, I have something truly incredible to show you.” Sora walked back to the adjacent kitchen and began pushing away some of the clutter of cereal boxes and books not put away. Underneath the pile was a small, cordless phone sitting on it’s charging dock.

“Tah-dah! A landline!” Sora’s enthusiastic introduction was complete with an energetic gesture to the phone.

“Oh.” Riku didn’t know what he had been expecting from the fanfare. “Alright.”

Sora frowned. “It’s a relic of the past! It’s cool, right?” 

Riku shrugged. His parents house had one, and Naminè’s parents were total technophobes and allergic to smartphones, so they had used the landline almost exclusively. 

“I should charge admission, Riku,” Sora told him seriously. Or mock-seriously. Sora put so much energy into being overdramatic that blunt and to-the-point Riku found him difficult to gauge. “The children of today would be fascinated by this archaic technology.”

“Is it so unusual?”

Sora smiled, and uncrossed his arms. “It’s just a joke, Riku. You’re allowed to laugh.” 

“Oh, okay.” There was a pause. “Sorry.”

“Nah, I’m sorry. It was lame.” Sora admitted. “I’ll try harder next time, I like your laugh.”

Riku’s face heated up. Sora, it seemed, threw out these comments as frequently and casually as he did finger guns, because he simply began to rummage through the clutter on the counter as if he hadn’t said something embarrassing and borderline flirtatious. “I should make you an emergency contact list.” He emerged from his dig with a piece of paper and an uncapped purple Crayola marker.

Sora scrawled down his cell number, the home phone, Kairi’s number, and then a number belonging to someone named ‘Yuffie.’ Riku meant to ask who Yuffie was, but he was still winded from the laugh comment, so he just nodded and pocketed the list. Then two locked up the house and left.

It was getting colder for sure, but snow was still only a threat. Riku was glad for the extra jacket, even if it left his waist and forearms with only a thin hoodie to protect him. Riku tried to recognize the neighborhood and the way they were walking, but he had only seen it once before at night. So he studied the street signs and landmarks extra closely, not wanting to get lost in an unknown suburbia in the winter.

“So, the school’s up the hill from here. Twilight is a pretty big district, we’re technically in Tram Common,” Sora held out his hands in front of him as they walked, first a big circle to illustrate the district, then began pointing at imaginary places within the circle. “We’re on the cusp of it, Station Heights. The downtown area is where all the actual stations and good public transportation is, and Kairi’s apartment and the dance studio.”

Riku looked intently at Sora’s hands, trying to absorb the directions. However, it was fairly impossible to discern actual locations from Sora’s gestures.

“And like, over _here_ ,” Sora pointed near the crook of his left elbow, “Is Sunset Terrace. It’s where all rich people are. Super expensive. Mansions, and what are those called? Condos?” Riku offered a shrug in response. “Anyway, really fancy publicly maintained fountains and stuff, high sales tax.”

“It’s right on the other side of all those trees at the end of our neighborhood, there’s a lake, and you can walk there in like twenty minutes.” Sora grinned. “It’s where I take the kids trick-or-treating, full-sized candy bars over there.” Riku nodded, though he had assumed everywhere gave out full-sized bars. He thought the cheap mini bars were just a joke in cartoons.

“Anyway, you’ll probably want to apply somewhere in walking distance for sure. Kairi and me are pretty strained for transportation as is.”

Riku hadn’t really thought about this, he had been pretty happy relying on public transportation for the few instances he had needed to go somewhere off campus. But if their trip from the school to Sora’s house had been any indication, the public transportation wasn’t as efficient so far from the central city. “That’s alright, I’ll figure something out.”

Sora looked relieved. “Thanks,” Sora ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Sorry I know I’m putting a ton of pressure on you-”

“No!” Riku cut in. “No, it’s okay. This is really helpful.”

Sora gave him a lopsided smile. “Alright, I’m glad you don’t mind being treated like a stray dog we don’t know how to take care of.” Riku gave a smile to that as well. “Honestly, you’re going to be living of peanut butter and jelly for the next month and a half.”

Riku grinned. “You would feed a dog peanut butter and jelly?”

Sora shrugged. “Why not? I mean, obviously not grape. But like. Yeah dogs like blueberries, right?” Sora scratched at his chin. “Blueberry is like the most expensive though…”

“Sora, no offense but I think if I was actually a stray dog I’d be dead by now.” Sora stuck out his tongue and Riku laughed.

Sora stopped walking and turned to him. “There it is,” Sora said, smile wide and finger gun aimed at him.

*

The school was small but modestly nice. Riku realized that summed up all of the neighborhood he had seen so far. Small, and nice, in a modest, worn out kind of way. There was a roundabout in front of the school steps, jammed with cars picking up kids.

Xion was recognizable as the only thing under four feet not dressed in the color of candy. She sat on the steps, backpack on her lap. Beside her Roxas was standing on the railing, swinging back and forth and talking to his little sister.

“Xion! Roxie!” Sora called. The two turned around, both wearing looks of surprise and excitement. Though upon Riku stepping up their expressions both visibly dampened. Roxas scrunched up his nose and Xion looked down at the ground and frowned.

“‘Sup kids,” Sora grinned.

“I didn’t know you were picking us up,” Roxas told him, stepping off the rail and slinging his backpack over one shoulder. “Do you work tonight?”

“Nope!” 

This response apparently tipped the scales from disappointment at Riku’s continued existence back to surprise and excitement. Roxas had an expression happier than Riku was used to seeing.

“Will you help me with that one dungeon I can’t get past? Please?” Sora nodded and Roxas gave a whoop, punching his fist into the air. Xion, meanwhile, was quietly collecting her things. Sora walked over and scooped her up in his arms. 

This appeared to be standard procedure, as Roxas picked up her backpack on cue, still grinning broadly, walking after his older brother and sister.

“So how was your day, Xion?” Sora asked the child who was somewhere inside the oversized hoodie.

“She aced her swim test! She’s allowed on the deep end now,” Roxas announced with pride.

This seemed to help coax her out of her shell. A little head popped out. “Yeah,” a small smile formed at her lips. “The coach, she told me I did good.” It was the first time Riku had heard her speak, and he was unsurprised to find her voice as timid as the rest of her.

“Xion, that’s awesome!” Sora cheered. He was loud enough to make Riku and a few bystanders wince, but Xion was unphased, save her smile growing a little wider.

Sora stopped walking. “Oh, Riku. That’s the library.” His hands full of child, he jerked his head in the direction of one of the buildings.

“Are you going to live there now?” Roxas asked, somewhat hopefully. Riku started counting to ten in mandarin. 

“Nah, they’re afraid someone’ll eat the books if they let anyone live in there,” Sora replied goodnaturedly. “Trust me, I asked if we could move in one time and that’s what they said.”

“Yeah right,” Roxas mumbled, rolling his eyes.

“Do you think you can find your way back to the house okay?” Sora asked. Riku hesitated, and was not at all happy to see this made Roxas look optimistic.

“Yeah, of course,” he replied firmly.

“Alright, alright,” Sora nodded. “Well there will be some dinner and the three of us waiting for ya’ when you’re done.”

*

Riku frowned at the ancient computer. The screen flickered back. His twelve open tabs continued to exist, impartial to his frustrations. To Riku’s surprise there was no shortage of online applications for nearby businesses, only a shortage of his willpower to repeatedly answer the most tedious questions known to man. 

Now they were asking for references, and Riku scanned his brain to see if he had any names or numbers retained of his high school teachers who had been exceptionally fond of him. Unsurprisingly, Riku was drawing a blank. He decided to check facebook.

Riku was halfway through logging in when he froze. He hadn’t logged in for over a year. What would be waiting for him? Naminé would of course still be in his contacts, after all she had been his first friend when he created the account in middle school. That had been the one good thing about when his phone plan had been canceled; the guilt he felt every time his phone buzzed with a new message from her had been unbearable. He still hadn’t gotten the courage to bring himself to read or delete any of them.

Riku shook his head. He could sort through old emails and find his teachers contact information that way. A lot more time consuming and inconvenient, but far less painful than any unread messages his account could have accumulated.

After slogging through year-old messages on his old school account, Riku got the information he needed to finish the forms. After fifteen applications, a splitting headache, and an ambiguous sense of creeping dread, Riku decided to call it a day and left.

*

“Go left, go left!” Roxas cried at the television. Sora spun Link around on the screen and darted for the opposite side of the cave, narrowly missing the enemy’s attack. Xion was laying on the couch next to Roxas, switching between homework on her lap and looking up at the screen.

Riku sat at the table eating spaghetti with sauce that had a similar taste and consistency to water, though he didn’t notice. His stomach was an upset mess, unrelated to the food he was trying to force himself to eat. His head was buzzing with white noise and running the entire length from the library to Sora’s house hadn’t done anything but make his heartbeat worst.

“Can I use the phone?” Riku blurted out.

Sora looked around from the couch. “Yeah, of course, dude.” On cue the death noise sounded from the tv and Roxas groaned loudly.

“Oops,” Sora chuckled nervously. “I think you’re better at this than I am.”

Riku picked up the landline and scrolled through his contacts. His phone didn’t work, but it still served as a digital address book. His thumb hesitated over her picture, smile wide, paint splattered on her face and sun on her bleach-blonde hair, making it look white. He didn’t need to click her contact info to get the number, he had it memorized since she had first gotten the phone.

Riku also didn’t need to entertain the thought of calling her. He was too much a coward to even read her texts. He scrolled down to Tidus, and clicked on the grey circle next to his name, looked at the number to double check, and then dialed it into the phone.

Riku looked around the room, wondering where any sense of privacy could be found. Sora seemed to read his mind and answered, “It works on the porch.” He turned to Roxas and added, “I’m sorry Roxie, your brother has failed you. I’m going to take a shower.”

“Bleh,” Roxas stuck his tongue out at him. “I’ll look up a walkthrough on the library computer, I guess. Mario kart?” He directed the last part at Xion. She closed her workbook and nodded as Tidus picked up. Riku stepped out onto the front porch.

The neighborhood was already dark, the sun was setting earlier each night. The air was bitter cold, too. 

“Hey, it’s Riku,”

“Oh cool, I didn’t think you’d actually call,” Tidus replied.

“You asked me to?” Riku said.

“Since when do you actually do anything people ask, especially when it’s something social?”

Riku didn’t have a response. He didn’t want to honor that with one anyway. “How’s your mom?”

“A mom. Fussing over my life and trying to feed me everything in the house, you know how it is.”

Riku did not know how it is. “Yeah,” he said, since his usual response of just nodding didn’t translate over the phone.

“More importantly, how’s the place your staying?” Tidus asked. 

Riku mulled the question over. “Sora’s got little siblings and,” he wondered how to explain Kairi. “This friend who stays over, and I think everyone here doesn't like me.”

“Well, you’re not the easiest person to live with,” Tidus replied. Riku rolled his eyes. He wasn’t the one who made huge messes and came home early in the morning, stoned and loud. “I’m sure they’ll warm up to you eventually.”

“Maybe,” Riku said, uncertain. “I think I’m complicating a situation that’s already difficult.” Riku curled up his legs to his body, shivering in the cold. He felt guilt gnawing away at him, more than the usual amount he felt for just existing. 

“Well, that’s better than being homeless,” Tidus reasoned. “Or having to crash at the creepy shelters.”

Riku had trouble agreeing, as someone who thought it would be easier to just drop dead rather than inconvenience a waiter by telling them they brought the wrong thing. “Yeah, guess so.”

“I’m glad you have somewhere to stay at any rate,” Tidus told him. “Have a good christmas- or whatever you celebrate.”

“It’s christmas,” Riku assured him. “I’m catholic,” Riku considered this statement. “Well, I was raised catholic.”

“Oh, man. That explains literally everything about you.” Riku scoffed. “What?” Tidus asked. “I just meant you’re a well behaved little boy.”

“Oh, go to hell,” Riku grumbled.

“Well, merry christmas, asshole.”

“Same to you,” Riku replied, standing up.

“Thanks for calling, dude. I really am glad you’re doing alright.”

Riku smiled, feeling a little hollow. “I’m glad someone is, at least.”

There was a pause. “See you next semester.”

“You too.” Riku hung up the phone and returned indoors. Roxas and Xion were on the couch, the two intently staring at the tv, both on the edge of their seat as Daisy and Yoshi were neck and neck in the final lap.

Just as Riku was placing the phone back in it’s cradle it started ringing again. There was no caller ID screen, but Riku figured Tidus must have forgotten something. He answered it.

An automated message greeted him. “Hello, this is a prepaid collect call from an inmate at Traverse Correctional Facility. This call is subject to recording and monitoring. To accept, press pound. To decline, you may hang up now.”

“Uh,” Riku looked down at the phone and then at the two kids playing Wii. “Where’s Sora?”

“In the shower,” Roxas answered without looking up. “Who is it?”

“Someone from Traverse...uhm… a correctional facility?”

Roxas looked up at Riku, eyes wide. Daisy spun out of control off the track and Yoshi raced ahead to the finish line. _“Sora?!”_ Roxas called loudly.

 _”In the shower!”_ a muffled reply came from down the hall. Roxas stood up, but didn’t go anywhere. Xion sighed, putting down her controller. She placed an arm on her brother’s shoulder, then walked to the kitchen and reached out her hand for the phone.

Riku handed it to her, and she pressed the pound key before holding it up to her ear and walking down the hall.

“Who was-?” Riku asked, feeling as if he had just played a very confusing game of hot potato.

“None of your goddamn business, scrub.” Roxas shot back. Ruder than necessary, but not untrue, Riku figured. Riku shook his head and decided not to question what had just happened. He was about to go back to his now cold spaghetti in an attempt to eat at least one meal that day, but stopped when he noticed Roxas.

He was staring blankly at the screen, hand idly thumbing the remote. He looked defeated. Roxas really was just a kid, Riku thought. Even if he was a brat.

“Do you want to play a round together?” Riku asked.

Roxas looked up, his expression sad for a split second longer before he quickly changed it into a scoff and an eye roll. “Like you know how to play Mario kart.”

“I’m younger than your brother, you know,” Riku shot back.

“And graying so young? Tragic.” Roxas hesitated a moment and then scooted over on the couch. “Yeah, but I’m Daisy.”

“Don’t worry, I’m Luigi,” Riku replied, standing up from the kitchen table and walking to the couch. Before he could sit down Xion came back into the room and placed the phone on the cradle.

“What did she want?” Roxas asked.

Xion shrugged. “Just wanted to see if we’re coming saturday.” She started walking back to the couch, but slowed when she saw Riku. Per the norm, her eyes shot down, and she grabbed her hood, pulling it close to her face as she inched past him.

There was an awkward pause. “Nevermind,” Riku mumbled, and returned to the kitchen. The two continued their game, though Roxas’ mood had become noticeably more sour. 

Riku tried not to let it bother him as he forced down the noodles.


	5. In which Riku gets a coat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> super big shout out to mechanipede.tumblr.com and archiveofourown.org/users/KaiserinAstraia/pseuds/KaiserinAstraia  
> whove been helping me with editing and bouncing around ideas ^^ check out their own soriku art and fics!

“How long would you last in the zombie apocalypse?”

The two were sitting behind the theater stage. It was dim, the usual bright overhead lights were off, and only the old, high windows above the rafters were bringing in light. Despite how high the ceiling was, it was still quite hot in building, even with the back door propped open.

Naminé sat with her legs crossed, and hair tied up into a loose bun. Her jeans were rolled up and her sweatshirt sleeves were pushed back, her brow furrowed in concentration. She was getting a headstart on the final touches on the stage props.

Riku was laying on his back, propped up by their backpacks, hands rested on his stomach. He looked up, watching the ropes dangling lazily from the rafters. Every once and awhile a rope would catch a slight breeze from the door and give a lazy little swing. The building was timeworn, and had no proper air conditioning.

The school said it hadn’t been renovated because of its historic beauty, but Riku knew it was because they weren’t about to waste funding that could be spent on academia or sports for the drama program.

Naminé put down her paintbrush and considered the question. “Are we talking standard, or mutated with abilities?”

“Standard,” Riku clarified. Even with his hair tied in a ponytail the back of his shirt was still dampening with sweat.

“Sudden, or gradual?” Naminé asked.

“Overnight,” he replied. “You wake up tomorrow and everything is zombies.”

The two were alone. The rehearsal wasn’t actually for another two hours. It was set up so that students had time to go home and eat or do homework before having their parents drive them back to campus.

Since Riku was theoretically at Naminé’s house, and Naminé was supposed to be at his, the two instead had to kill their time until the drama class started. It was tedious, but a small price to pay in order to avoid their parents disappointment that they were wasting precious study time with theater.

“Okay, first things first, I take Winston,” Naminé told him. Winston Churchurtle was her tortoise. He was ancient looking; massive and wrinkled. Riku didn’t think her parents would have let her keep the tiny hatchling she brought home years ago if they had known how big he was destined to become. “Then, we go to your house-"

“You find me dead on the floor,” he quickly countered.

“Of course I do,” Naminé sighed. “I take your C.D. collection. Is Dawn okay?”

Dawn was Riku’s cat. She was fat, grumpy with a missing eye, and long fur that was supposed to be white but looked more like the color of a chainsmoker’s teeth. She was always matted, no matter how lovingly and carefully and often Riku brushed her or how many grooming appointments he paid for.

“No, Dawn was killed by my zombie parents,” Riku told her. “Losing their human conscious was the push they needed to finally get rid of her.”

Naminé was quiet for a minute. “Did your zombie parents kill you too?”

“No, I killed myself,” Riku informed her. “Because Dawn died.”

“Oh, right.” Naminé nodded. “You would do that.” Riku was not a people person, nor was he particularly an animal person. He was a ‘lived for his cat Dawn’ person.

“Well, I give Dawn a proper burial,” Naminé told him. “Then I get some swords from your strange neighbor who has all the swords.”

Naminé wiped her hands off on her paint towel and sat up. “Alright, so I have weapons and Winston. I guess next I would raid for pet food and people food.”

“You’re going to carry Winston all the way from my house to the pet store?” he asked.

“I guess I’ll walk with him? I don’t know, you’re the one who knows how to drive,” Naminé grumbled. “And you died on me.”

Riku shrugged. “Sorry.” He looked at her and was surprised to find she appeared upset. Naminé bit her lip.

“Please don’t die on me.” 

Riku didn’t think they were talking about the zombie apocalypse anymore. 

She stared at him. Her eyes were wide, the color so light they looked almost pale. Sometimes he thought they looked beautiful, and sometimes he thought they looked eerie. When the two were children he had thought she could see through him, into his memories, and read his mind. Even after all these years, the thought had never completely left him.

“I don’t really know how to drive,” he mumbled, wanting to change the subject.

“You have your learners permit, so you knew enough to pass the test,” she reminded him. “That’s better than where I’m at.” She shook her head. “Nevermind. I don’t like this scenario, Riku.”

“Do you want a reset?” He asked.

“No. You’ve lost dungeon master privileges,” she told him. “Your scenario was bad and you should feel bad. It’s my turn.”

He chuckled. “Alright, lay it on me.”

Naminé stood up and stretched out the stiffness from painting cross-legged on the floor. “Alright,” she grinned, walking over to Riku and laying down next to him. He scooted over to give her some room, and she snuggled up next to him.

“So, you wake up and it’s the morning of the zombie apocalypse,” she began. “You look off the balcony and see cars in the neighborhood crashed and smoking, and pale shambling hordes wander the streets.”

“Is Dawn okay?” He asked.

“Dawn is very okay, she has already caught a zombie mouse.”

He smiled. “Good job, Dawn.”

The two continued talking, Naminé throwing scenarios at him and Riku explaining how he would react. The two laid together, looking up at the ceiling. While in poor condition, the building was beautiful in it’s own way. The wooden rafters criss-crossing and the windows, long rusted shut, casting a hazy afternoon light onto them.

By the time the rest of the theater class arrived, the two had succumbed to the dog day heat and had fallen asleep, side by side.

*

Riku was in another battle with the ancient dinosaur at the public library. It groaned and emitted heat, but Riku ignored it and struggled to fill out more applications as the cursor erratically lagged around the screen.

He hit sixteen this time before his brain gave out. Riku was about to log off when a thought crossed his mind. He stood up and looked around, and saw an elderly woman nearby shelving books. 

“Ma’am?” Riku asked. “Am I allowed to print files?”

She turned around and squinted at him. “No naked ladies.”

“I-” Riku stopped. He felt his face heat up but no response came to mind. The librarian was unphased, already back to her task. Riku wondered if she got a lot of people in trying to print naked ladies, or if something about him in particular that looked nefarious. 

Shaking his head to clear it, Riku did a bit of searching until he found what he was looking for. He highlighted the relevant articles to print. The ancient monitor flickered as it sent it’s request to the fairly modern printer on the other side of the computers.

Riku stood up and collected the pages, flipping through them to double check everything had printed okay. He tensed up when he noticed the woman was standing right next to him, staring.

“It’s not nude women,” Riku assured her, annoyance in his voice. He showed her the pages as proof.

She looked them over, and then smiled brightly, clearly satisfied. “Good boy,” she patted his hand before tottering back to her cart of books. Riku wondered what talking to a normal human for once in his life might be like. 

Sighing, he gathered the papers and pulled on the too-small jacket Sora had lent him, double checking he hadn’t misplaced the spare house key.

School was still in session, so the parking lot was relatively empty and easy to navigate. The sky was a gloomy gray overcast, and it wouldn’t have been too cold if the wind wasn’t biting at Riku’s cheeks.

The walk from the library back to the house was becoming more familiar, though it did nothing to quell the anxious feeling he was always walking the wrong way. Riku hoped that would go away soon, but it would likely be awhile. It had taken a few months last semester for him to stop wondering if he had arrived at the wrong classroom every day.

It wasn’t until he was on Sora’s street that he felt calmer, recognizing all the houses and the parked cars. The familiarity was comforting, letting him know he had not yet gotten lost and would be forced to wander around an unknown neighborhood with an inoperable phone.

As Riku got closer to the house, however, all his comfort drained away. On the familiar front porch was something entirely new.

There was a man sitting cross-legged on the steps. He was tall, gangly, and stick-thin, with ripped up black jeans and a faded leather jacket covered in pins. He had long, messy red hair that was tied up into a ponytail and was smoking a cigarette.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked.

“I live here,” Riku answered, getting sick of the question. “Who are you?”

“Where’s Xion?” the man asked, ignoring him.

“Uh…” Riku hesitated. “She’s a second grader and it’s noon on a wednesday?” 

_“God damnit_ ,” he groaned.

There was a long period where nothing was said, and the man took a drag off his cigarette before flicking it onto the yellow grass and rubbing it out with his boot. Riku continued to stand there, maintaining eye contact the whole time. “What are you waiting for?” the man asked.

“For you to leave, so I can get into the house,” Riku told him.

He laughed. “Alright, alright.” He stood up and dusted off his knees. It was rare someone was taller than Riku, and Riku did not like it one bit. They stood too close together for comfort as the man looked him up and down. “You Sora’s new thing?”

“If by thing you mean roommate, yes,” Riku retorted. “Can I get into the house now?”

He barked out another laugh. “Yeah, sure, kid.” He stepped aside, but not much. Riku brushed his shoulder as he walked past. “What’s your name again?”

“I didn’t give it to you,” Riku told him. 

He grinned. “Well my name’s Axel, easy enough to remember, right?” Riku said nothing. “Well, be seeing you.”

“Will I?” Riku asked.

He raised his eyebrows. “I should hope so, I’m her damn father.” 

Riku did not, nor could he allow himself to, fully process the statement. Axel gave him a hard pat on the shoulder. “Ciao, kid.”

Riku didn’t move an inch. Axel had his hand in his jacket pockets, and walked to the end of the street, turning round the corner. It was a full minute after he left that Riku realized he was still standing on the porch, in the cold, and went inside.

*

Riku had dug out his sketchpad out of his suitcase, and spent his time idly sketching. Sora had showed him how to turn on the gaming console, but Riku was too uncomfortable with a stranger’s possessions to yet use it, and the tv didn’t hold anything interesting. 

He had struggled to sleep again that night, and was resisting the urge to take a nap. He figured if he exhausted himself enough his body would eventually sleep when he told it to.

While boring entertainment, the television was at least useful as a reference for his art. Riku was sketching out quick gestures of the contestants on some cooking show. The characters moved every few moments, so drawing their poses was a fun challenge.

Riku was so absorbed in his task he didn’t notice the arrival of Sora until the man had rested his chin on Riku’s shoulder to look down at his work. Riku near jumped out his skin and Sora took a step back.

“Sorry, I always forget how jumpy you are,” Sora told him. 

Riku frowned. He had thought his reaction was standard for a person who had gone from home alone to unknowingly no longer alone. 

“I like your drawings,” Sora added. He pointed at one of the gestures. “It looks like they’re moving.”

Riku nodded, still trying to readjust himself to the company. Sora, of course, had to make this even more difficult by casually taking off his shirt as he walked into the hallway and down the stairs. 

Sora was small, but surprisingly fit under all the baggy clothes he wore. Riku looked at Sora’s toned back as he walked down the stairs. For some dumb reason, Axel’s earlier comment about being Sora’s ‘thing’ creeped into Riku’s head and he had to shake his brain like an etch-a-sketch to clear it. 

Sora came back upstairs a minute later, dressed in joggers and a tank top. “How’s your day been going?” Sora asked, walking into the kitchen.

“Alright,” Riku answered, shutting off the tv. “I went to the library, did some more applications.”

“Heck yeah!” Sora responded. “I’m going to make a sandwich, you hungry?”

Riku was not. Riku was rarely hungry these days, so he declined. Sora clattered around in the kitchen for a bit before returning to the living room and sitting down next to Riku.

“How was work?” Riku asked.

Sora shrugged. “It’s work,” he replied. “Beats working,” he added, and then laughed. 

“Hopefully I’ll be doing that soon,” Riku replied.

“How many applications have you done?” Sora asked around a mouthful of sandwich. 

“Thirty one, as of this morning,” Riku responded. “I think I’ll go back to the library and do a few more later.”

“Holy cow! Yeah!” Sora was grinning brightly. “Should be getting a call any day now.” He scarfed down the last few bites and then stood up. “I’m going to try and get some christmas stuff out of the garage.”

Eager for something to do, Riku stood up as well. “Would you like some help?”

Another smile. “I was just about to ask.”

*

Riku’s uncle liked those shows. Strange addictions, hoarding habits, unhealthy lifestyles. Riku had never gotten the appeal. A small mess stressed Riku out, and the sight of those houses on the shows had made his stomach turn. And here he was, face-to-face with a real-life episode.

“Oooh,” Sora winced. “It’s…not great, is it?” He rubbed at his nose, shyly, and cast Riku a nervous smile.

Riku had wondered why the truck was always parked on the street. Now he knew. Not even little Xion would have the room to sit comfortably in this mess. 

Riku could see the history of this room clearly in his mind. It had started as a crowded garage, shelves on the walls tightly packed and organized like a game of Tetris. Then those shelves had been filled, and in front of them were additional, portable plastic shelving units, also stuffed full. So the boxes got tentatively stacked together. 

Then a hurricane had apparently hit, because there were miscellaneous items ranging from a bike missing its wheels to a decrypt teddy bear scattered all throughout the space.

Then, apparently, whoever owned the place had given up, because the boxes started just being haphazardly thrown on top of eachother. Items were stacked precariously on items, and plastic bins placed on boxes were piled high with junk. The bare lightbulb was barely visible behind towers of things, its light blotted out by all the shelves and bins. It made the room dim and harder to discern objects in the chaos.

Sora turned to look at Riku’s expression. Sora seemed a little amused despite himself. “I’m not a hoarder,” Sora told him earnestly. Riku nodded, slowly, trying to process the scene in front of him.

Sora looked back at the scene in front of them, chuckling nervously. “I’ve been putting this off for a long time,” he admitted. 

“Makes sense,” Riku said absentmindedly, still transfixed.

“Like, most of this stuff isn’t mine,” Sora informed him. “Or if it is, it’s from when I was like two and I cannot be held accountable for its state.” Riku said nothing. 

Sora sighed. “No time to start like the present.” He smiled at Riku. “And no way to better get to know someone than to dig through twenty-one years worth of their junk, right?”

Riku shrugged, but rolled up his sleeves nonetheless. Sora surveyed the area. “I think we need to do the thing like in tv. Keep, Donate, Toss? Right?” If it were up to Riku, he would have burned the place to the ground by now, but he figured Sora’s idea was a good second option.

“Hmm,” Sora looked around, inching around the piles in front of him. “I guess we should start with things to toss…” he picked up one of the large plastic bins and to Riku’s horror, dumped it out onto the floor. “This’ll do.”

Sora stepped gingerly over the mess, and put the bucket back near the door. Then, he got on his knees and started picking up nearby things and considering them. Not sure what else to do, Riku crouched beside him and joined in. Some of the objects only Sora could decide their worth, but some stuff, like empty soda cans, Riku deemed safe to toss into the bin. 

“Are you okay?” Sora asked. Riku hadn’t realized it, but he supposed he must have looked as uncomfortable as he felt. 

“I don’t know. Messes have always stressed me out.” He picked up a binder, and handed it Sora, figuring it’s value was Sora’s call. “I feel like someone’s going to come yell at me whenever I see one, even if it’s on tv.”

“Your parents do that a lot?” Sora asked, taking the binder and flipping through it before placing it in the bin. “Yell at you for making messes?”

“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never made one.” Riku chuckled. “I was too scared they’d yell at me.”

Sora grinned. “I think I have the opposite problem, clearly.” He gestured around. “I suppose my mom would _tell_ me to clean up, but she didn’t ever bother to _make_ me.”

“So, have you lived in this house all your life?” Riku asked.

“Kind of?” Sora answered. “I lived here in this house when I was a baby, and then we moved. We lived all over. Usually around Traverse,” Sora picked up a coat, looked at it, and then placed it at his feet. “Sometimes not. But yeah, usually in the city or nearby.” 

Riku nodded. “College was the first time I ever moved,” he admitted. “I grew up on the west coast, in the same place I was taken home from the hospital to. Didn’t leave until this year.”

“West coast, huh?” Sora mused. “I bet it was nice.”

“It wasn’t,” Riku quickly replied. Then he stopped himself, and considered. “Well, where I lived wasn’t anyway. Or, at least I thought so.”

“That’s usually the way it is, right?” Sora reasoned. “You chose to leave for a reason.” Sora picked up a broken tennis racket, frowned at it, and then tossed it into the tub. “I lived in Station Heights for a long time before we moved back to this house. That’s where I met Kairi, we were apartment-neighbors when I was a kid.”

Riku waited for Sora to continue, but he didn’t. A focused silence fell over the two as they combed the nearby area for items to judge. Riku continued to throw away the obvious garbage, and give Sora the more questionable items to decide their fate. 

About twenty minutes had past when Riku placed a dusty lampshade into the bin and Sora stood up. “Alright, well that’s reasonably full.” He looked down at the pile he had made next to it. “I’ll put these in a bag until we have somewhere to put them in here.” 

Sora pushed the bin aside and moved some things out of his pile to unearth the coat he had put aside, and then handed it to Riku. It was a little musty, but beyond that it was in good condition. It was army green with lots of pockets and a hood. “This might fit you, I think it was Axel’s.”

“Xion’s dad?”

Sora’s eyebrows raised. “How do you know that?” he asked. Riku was surprised. So the guy really had been her father. He supposed he could kind of see the resemblance, they had similar facial features and the same slender frame.

“I met him earlier today,” Riku replied. In his horror upon seeing the garage, he had forgotten to tell Sora about the encounter. “He was waiting on the porch when I got back from the library.”

“What?” Sora frowned. “What was he doing here?”

Riku shrugged. “Looking for Xion?”

“He’s not allowed unsupervised visits, he knows that.” Sora scrubbed at his face. “I’m going to talk to him about this.” Sora looked back at Riku, standing there with the coat in his hand. “Sorry, nevermind.” He gestured to the jacket. “Anyway, try it on.”

Riku obliged. It fit him well. He zipped it up. It was snug, but in the way a jacket should be. He reached his arms forward and found the sleeves continued to cover his wrists. Then he flipped up the hood, and instantly regretted it.

A face full of dust fell into his eyes and mouth. “Oops!” Sora exclaimed, pushing the hood off Riku as he coughed up his lungs. “I should have washed it first.”

Riku shook his head, eyes clenched tight and heaving. “N-no-” he coughed out. “I- I put it on.”

“And I gave it to you,” Sora told him. “We’re all guilty here.” Riku only coughed harder in response.

Once Riku had gotten most of the particles out of his lungs he unzipped the jacket and handed it to Sora. Or where he though Sora was, his eyes were watering and blurry from the dust, and he felt tears stinging at his tear ducts from all the coughing.

Sora took the jacket and placed it on the ground, and out of Riku’s fragmented vision he saw Sora take off his shirt. He balled it up and then stepped close in front of Riku, until they were about an inch apart. He started dabbing at Riku’s eyes with the fabric.

“I-I-I can do th-this-” Riku wasn’t sure if it was how raw his throat was that was making him stutter. Nonetheless, he felt his face heat up.

Sora smiled and handed Riku the shirt. “Sorry, of course you can.” Riku took the shirt and rubbed at his face with it. It smelled a little sweaty, but it was otherwise clean. “I’ve been blowing other peoples noses for years, it’s a force of habit.” 

Riku rubbed at his eyes before handing the shirt back. His eyes still stung, but he could see now. The shirt had grey streaks on it from all the dust. Sora gave Riku a pitying smile. 

“I think you need a shower,” he told him. Riku agreed. 

Then, still flustered, he left the garage.

*

The shower had helped. Talking with Sora and assisting in the garage had helped too. He felt a little less stir-crazy and grimey from spending most of his time in the same room with not much to do. He also hadn’t noticed it, but Riku had gotten pretty lonely lately.

Dressed in clean clothes Riku stepped out into the living room to find it full. Kairi was at the kitchen counter, dressed in her usual stage-ready attire, washing dishes. Roxas and Xion were on the couch, and Sora was just coming up the stairs from the basement.

“Hey, I’m going to start a load of laundry. Got anything dirty in your suitcase?” Sora asked. Riku nodded, still-damp hair dripping down his neck as he did so. Then Sora turned his attention to Kairi.

“Hey, Kai,” he grinned. “Guess who finally started cleaning the garage?” He pointed proudly at himself.

“Nice!” She returned his smile. “Find my Hilary Duff C.D.?”

Sora’s smile vanished. “Aw, c’mon. Really? Didn’t I lose that when were like, what, ten?”

“You said you’d give it back in a week,” she countered. “It’s been how many weeks since? Couple hundred?” Sora looked horrified. She laughed, and dried off her hands. “I’m totally kidding, Sora. I’m glad you’re finally getting around to cleaning that monster.”

“Yeah, and I’m gonna find your dang C.D.,” he added, grinning.

“Who’s Hilary Duff?” Roxas asked the two. 

Kairi laughed, walking around the counter to ruffle Roxas’ hair. “No one you’d be interested in, Mr. Linkin Park.”

“Who’s Linkin Park?” Roxas added, frowning as he pushed his hair back to the side.

Kairi grimaced. “Oh my god, you make me feel ancient, Roxas.” Then she leaned down and hugged Xion too. “I’m going to head out, see you guys tomorrow.”

“Bye, Kai,” Xion said, hugging her back. 

Kairi kissed her on the forehead before turning to Riku. “Also, hello and goodbye to you as well, Riku.”

Riku felt embarrassed, as if he had been called out for eavesdropping, or caught being somewhere he wasn’t supposed to. Even though he was just kneeling next to his suitcase and making a pile of clothes to be washed. “Have a nice night, Kairi,” he told her.

She grinned, took her pale pink winter coat off the rack, and left.

“You guys got anything dirty?” Sora asked the two kids. Xion nodded, and with her usual shy look at Riku, she left and walked down the hall. Roxas shook his head, slumping down and kicking out his feet, remote in hand, making it clear he didn’t plan to move anytime soon. 

Sora crossed his arms and gave his brother a stern gaze. “If you’ve worn it twice, it counts as dirty,” Sora reminded him.

“Bleh,” Roxas grumbled, getting up and walking down the hall as well.

Sora watched him until he shut the door to his room, then turned his attention to Riku. “This everything?” Sora asked, holding out his hands to take the pile of laundry. Riku looked at the clothes and felt a squirm of awkwardness. 

“I can do my own separately,” Riku offered. “If you want.”

Sora laughed. “Thanks, but I’m not scared of your cooties.” He scratched nervously at his cheek and added, “Plus, my room’s a little embarrassingly messy right now.” 

Riku thought of the garage and felt nauseous. Sora seemed to read his mind and quickly added, “No! Not _that_ messy. But still.” He pointed a finger at Riku. “No boys allowed.”

Riku nodded, trying not to feel weird about the fact a non-family member was going to see his underwear. 

“Cool, be downstairs,” Sora told him, taking the clothes.

Riku began zipping up his suitcase back up when the doorbell rang. “Can you get that?” Sora’s voice came from down the stairs. Riku obliged, getting up and walking to the door.

A woman was standing in the doorway, and judging from her attire Riku wondered if a jogger had gotten lost. She was dressed in black yoga pants, sneakers, a white tee and a light yellow athletic jacket. “Hello, hello,” she greeted him, grinning brightly. “You a friend of Sora’s?”

“Yes,” Riku answered for simplicity’s sake.

She stuck out her hand for Riku to shake. “Name’s Yuffie Kisaragi, world’s best social worker this side of Traverse.” He shook her hand. “I’m here for Xion, she around?” She asked.

Riku frowned, remembering Sora’s response to finding out about the last time someone had asked for Xion’s whereabouts. But then Riku realized this must be Yuffie from his emergency contact list, and that must make her someone Sora trusted. Plus, even if she didn’t look like one, she had introduced herself as a social worker.

“One moment,” Riku told her. She nodded goodnaturedly, rocking on the balls of her feet as she waited. Riku went back into the living room, finding Sora already there. “Someone named Yuffie is at the door, Xion’s social worker?”

Sora looked surprised. “Oh man, it’s wednesday isn’t it?” He shook his head. “I totally forgot, I need to get more sleep.”

Xion’s head peeked out from the hallway out the sound of her name, a handful of clothes in her arms. “Is Yuffie here?” she asked.

“Yep!” came a call from the doorway. Xion grinned and walked past the boys, placing her pile carefully on the couch. Yuffie greeted her with a hug and a, “Hey, squirt. Ready to go?”

“One second,” Sora cut in. “Yuffie, can I talk to you real quick?”

Yuffie looked up, and upon seeing his face her expression became somber. “Yeah, of course,” she told Sora, then addressed Xion, “hold tight for a minute, okay?” Xion nodded and the two went outside, closing the door behind them. Riku had a feeling this was about Axel.

Riku noticed that Xion had pulled up her hood again. He sighed internally, wondering what it was about him that made this little girl so terrified. Deciding to try and make her feel better, Riku left her by herself at the door and sat down on his corner futon.

After a minute, Sora and Yuffie came back into the house. Sora looked more tired than normal, and the woman seemed stressed. Though upon seeing Xion, she was all smiles again. 

“Alright, let’s go see your dad.” She leaned in closer, though Riku could still hear her as she whispered, “Maybe we’ll get some ice cream on the way home too, huh? My treat.”

Yuffie stood back up, and waved. “Well, be seeing you boys.” Xion took her hand and they headed out the door. “Nice to meet you, Riku!” she called, as the door shut with a click.

“Did you ask her about the thing with Axel?” Riku inquired, curiosity getting the better of him.

Sora sighed. “Yeah, she figures maybe he just got mixed up.” He ran a hand through his hair. “To be fair, I did forget it was wednesday.”

Riku really had no insight as he did not know the situation and barely knew the people involved, so he just offered Sora a shrug. But there was something about the encounter that was still itching at him.

“Axel said something else,” Riku began, nervous.

Sora froze. “Oh god, did he say something weird?”

Riku looked down. “He uhm....” The words didn’t want to come out and the room was way too hot. “Asked me something strange,” is what he had decided on.

Sora groaned, slapping his hands to his face. 

“Uggghh, that is so like him.” Sora sighed. “He’s just mad at me for some dumb stuff, I promise that has nothing to do with you.” He lowered his hands and looked at Riku’s face. 

It was the first time Riku had seen Sora flustered. “I don’t have any weird intentions, you know that, right?”

The thought hadn’t even crossed Riku’s mind. He opened his mouth to tell Sora that when he was interrupted by a loud throat clearing. Riku looked down and noticed Roxas frowning up at him, his arms piled with clothing.

“Where’s Xion?” he asked, glaring at Riku as if Riku was somehow hiding the second grader.

“It’s wednesday, she’s with Yuffie,” Sora informed his little brother. Disappointment washed over Roxas.

“What?! They already left?” Roxas looked sullen, “Yuffie was going to show me a picture of her new puppy!” He kicked the air with his foot. “This sucks!”

Sora gave him a lopsided smile. “Aw, she’ll show you when she gets back. Besides,” he wrapped his arms around his little brother. “You’ve still got me!” Roxas groaned, attempting to wiggle away with his arms still full of clothes. Sora rocked back and forth with his arms still around his brother, singing, “ _The name on everybody’s lips is gonna be, Ro-xie~!_ ”

“Chicago?” Riku asked, excited.

Sora halted in harassing Roxas. “What?” he asked Riku, looking confused.

“Chicago,” Riku repeated. “It’s this musical- well, actually it’s a remake of this 1920s play. It’s a satire of the justice system, and its film adaptation actually won best picture. It’s one of my favorite plays,” Riku told them. “It’s about women convicted of murder and how the press overly focuses on their appearance and likeability, and how they use that to their advantage and manipulate their notoriety into fame-” Sora still looked lost. Riku stopped, and cleared his throat. “You were singing it, just now,” Riku finished, a little meek.

“Oh,” Sora shrugged. “Sorry, I don’t know where I heard that from.”

Roxas loudly cleared his throat again, apparently trying to remind them that he still existed. Sora turned his attention down to his brother. “So, what’s up in your world, Roxas?”

“Well I’m still holding all these clothes and being squeezed, so that’s not great,” Roxas told him. Sora laughed, and ruffled his little brother’s hair. _“Why is it always the hair,”_ Roxas huffed under his breath.

“Because I love you,” Sora told him, giving him one last squeeze before letting go. Sora took the clothes from his brothers arms, and added Xion’s few items to the pile as well. Meanwhile, Riku continued to stand there like the waste of space he was. 

“I’m going to go start this load,” Sora announced, then nodded at Roxas. “And then you can tell me what we’re going to do until my shift at the movie theater starts.”

“I can tell you that right now,” Roxas announced, perking up. “I want to get deep into some Magic the Gathering.”

“Well, you read my mind, lil’ bro,” Sora told him. “Lead the way.” Sora gave Riku one last smile before heading downstairs. “See you later Riku, we’re going to get our geek on.”

“Don’t make it weird,” Roxas sighed, following after him.

Riku gave the two of them a half-hearted wave goodbye before going into the kitchen and making himself a sandwich. After putting something in his stomach, he drank some water and swallowed his dosage of medication. He brushed his teeth, and the retired to his corner. It was only four, but it was practically already dark and out and his need to sleep was really starting to get to him. 

Besides, it wasn’t like Riku had anything better to do with his time, or anyone else to spend it with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	6. In which Riku wants to go for a walk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new chapppterr boyysss

It had been weird to look forward to a funeral, but Riku couldn’t help it. If you removed the part where he and Naminé had to sit still and look somber for a few hours, everything else was exciting. Getting to miss a few days of school, getting to travel to another city. Not to mention, despite it being a large family gathering, this time he had an excuse to slip away and not talk to anyone. He would look like he was in mourning, rather than a socially awkward introvert trying to avoid his family.

Besides, he had barely known his grandfather. His grandmother had died before Riku was born, and everyone said that after her death his grandfather hadn’t been the same. Riku remembered him as a quiet and distant man. It was hard to relate to a grieving family who remembered him as funny and extremely kind.

Riku knocked on the door of Naminé’s family’s hotel room. He was given a “Come in,” in response. She was alone, standing in front of a mirror, only giving his reflection a brief glance before frowning at her appearance again.

It was weird seeing her in anything but jeans, but she looked good in the light blue dress and matching hair ribbons tying her jet black hair in braids. Riku vaguely remembered at the church funerals they had to wear black, but he supposed his parents had forgone that to honor the culture of the country his grandfather had been born in. So instead his father and uncle were in white, and their children in blue.

“You look good,” he told her. She knitted together her eyebrows.

“Perfect, even,” she commented, grabbing the frills of her dress. “I hate it.” Standing closer, he realized her eyes were red. Riku frowned. He knew she and her father must have been fighting again.

Riku knew her better than anyone, but he knew what everyone thought of her too. A quiet, good girl. Talented and respectful, soft spoken and polite. But he also knew that to the few that knew her well, she was brilliant in a smug way, impulsive to the point of danger, and the most gifted actor and manipulative person he had ever met.

“I’m just tired of doing everything they want, I want to do something unexpected.” She pressed her lips together and picked up one of her braids, considering it.

“You’re not going to cut it off, are you?” Riku asked, wondering if she had thought any of this through, knowing the answer was ‘yes,’ and that she was still going to do it anyway.

“No,” she tossed the braid back over her shoulder. Riku let out a little sigh of relief. “But maybe dying it.”

“Yeah?” He hesitated. “...what color?” He was interested, but he didn’t want to encourage that mad look in her eyes.

A soft smile played at her lips. “Who knows, maybe I’ll bleach it.”

Riku noted her expression and knew that there was no stopping her now. “...After the funeral, right?”

“Maybe,” she turned around for the first time, facing him fully. “Maybe not.” 

Like most of their family, she was tall, but gave off a demure aura because of her calm manner. But Riku knew better. The smile was still there, and she raised her eyebrows. “I mean, white’s a mourning color after all, right?”

Riku knew that she was secretly the craziest, scariest woman on earth.

“Auntie will disown you,” he warned. She turned around and crossed her arms, all the mischief and fun leaving her expression. 

Riku put his arm around her, but she continued to glare at the mirror, not looking at him.

“And then adopt you instead, the good child,” Naminé mumbled, sounding hurt. It may have sounded like insecurity on her part, but Riku did not take it that way. The last thing he ever wanted to be was the good child, and she knew that.

“Well…” Riku held up his hand and grabbed at his own bangs, considering them. “Not if we both bleach our hair.”

Her whole face lit up within an instant, because she knew him just as well as he knew her. She knew he would never make a promise he wouldn’t keep, and that he wanted to do something reckless too, and that he was her best friend in the whole world, and that he would do anything for her.

“But, jesus, Naminé, _after_ the funeral.”

*

Unsurprisingly, Riku was up at the ass-crack of not-even-dawn-yet. Also unsurprisingly he felt his usual terrible self upon waking. His mouth dry and head spinning, he went to the kitchen to run his head under the sink.

Riku figured this is what he got for going to bed before the sun had sent. Though to be fair he had woken up once when Xion and Yuffie had returned. 

Xion had been decked out with flawlessly sharp winged eyeliner and cheeks decorated with sharks and dinosaurs. Yuffie matched her, sans the temporary tattoos. The social worker had explained to a laughing Sora that Axel had decided to give the girls a makeover.

Riku’s sleep schedule had been starting to even out a little since staying at Sora’s. Here there was very little to do during the day, and truly nothing to do at night. Out of all the motivators to try and set a regular pattern, it turned out boredom had been the most successful. 

Unfortunately, he had gone and messed that up by going to bed so early. Now he was awake with nothing to do. But as he was toweling off his face, it occured to Riku he may have been wrong about that.

The light flipped on in the kitchen, and Riku looked up to see Sora. He was dressed in nothing but boxers, which seemed to be his regular sleepwear. He looked surprisingly alert despite the time.

“Hey!” Sora’s voice was it’s usual excited tone, but a touch lower and far quieter than usual.

“Hey,” Riku followed suit, keeping his voice soft as well.

“Sorry, no pants again,” Sora gestured, rather uncessarily, at his lack of attire. “Didn’t think you’d be up.”

“That’s ok,” Riku shrugged. He tried to remain nonchalant but just like the other times Sora had been underdressed, Riku was unable to make proper eye contact. “To be fair, I didn’t really think I would be up either.”

“Oh man, do I ever know how that is.” Sora laughed. “I’ll go get pants. Oh! And your laundry!”

Within a minute Sora was back up the stairs. Surprisingly, he was fully dressed in clothes almost appropriate for the season. He was in torn-up jeans, his red Traverse U. hoodie, and a grey beanie. He handed Riku a pile of laundry. 

Riku could tell Sora had done his best to fold them, but sleeves were hanging out and the pants were not evenly lined up by the seams. Figuring it would be too rude to re-fold them in front of Sora, he just thanked him and began putting them away.

Sora busied himself at the counter, and the tell-tale smell of coffee began to fill the room. Finishing with his suitcase, Riku joined him in the kitchen.

“I’m guessing you’re not planning on going back to sleep?” Riku commented.

Sora shook his head. “No, I’ve got work in about an hour.”

“Do you even sleep?” Riku asked. Sora gave a snort of laughter. He poured the pot into a Snoopy mug, hardly even half full. Then he went into the fridge and brought out milk, creamer, and even whip cream.

“You want a cup?” Sora offered. Riku nodded, and Sora got down a mug from a cabinet. The hinges squeaked. Riku could tell Sora was trying to close it as carefully as he could, not wanting the loud noise to bother those still asleep.

He handed the cup to Riku, and Riku poured it to the brim. Sora looked at him with distaste as he poured the absurd amount of dairy and sugar into his own glass.

“Do you drink it black?” Sora asked. Riku nodded, and he grimaced.“Do you like the way it tastes or something?”

Riku shrugged, blowing on his cup. “I don’t drink it for pleasure, so I don’t really care how it tastes.”

“Just because it’s not supposed to be fun, doesn't mean it has to be bad,” Sora told him, voice earnest.

A smile twitched at Riku’s lips. “That sounds like your brand of logic.”

Sora nodded vigorously. “It’s good logic.” He shook the can of whip cream and began putting it on the coffee, now light brown with creamer. “You should try it sometime.”

Riku wrinkled his nose. “No thanks.” Black coffee sounded better to him than the disaster Sora was currently creating.

Sora shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

The two sat in relative silence as they drank their coffee.

“You want any breakfast?” Sora was the first to talk, rinsing their finished mugs in the sink.

“I think I’m still too disorientated by how early it is to eat,” Riku admitted.

Sora laughed. “Same boat, same boat.” He placed the mugs on the drying rack and rinsed out to the coffee pot. “Sooo...” he prompted, turning to Riku.

“So?” Riku asked.

“So, feel like going for a run?” Sora grinned. “It’s how I get myself all woken up before work.”

“Oh!” Riku’s face brightened. It had been forever since he had gone running. Too fearful of going far and not being able to find the house, he had hardly left. The past few days had been the most claustrophobic of his life.

Sora chuckled. “I knew you’d be excited.” Riku shot him a clearly confused look. 

“Because you’re my stray dog, remember?”

Riku could _feel_ how unamused his expression became. Sora, meanwhile, had the biggest shit-eating grin Riku had seen in recent history.

“Wanna go for a walk, boy?” Sora asked, with excited cadence of addressing a small animal. He patted at his legs, as if he really were talking to a dog. “Wanna go for a walk?”

Riku spluttered, trying not to laugh. He would be damned if he gave Sora the satisfaction of rewarding such imbecilic joke.

“I fucking hate you,” Riku grumbled, voice tight from trying to hide his amusement.

Sora gasped. Riku realized his mistake in an instant.

“Sorry,” he told him quickly, feeling a little panicked.

“You had a sailor’s mouth at school, Riku. I’m impressed you’ve made it so far without slipping up.” Riku felt relieved Sora wasn’t upset. “But!” Sora pointed at him accusingly. “That’s strike one, mister!”

“What happens at strike three?” Riku asked. His guts twisted themselves up in anticipation.

Sora tapped a finger on his chin, thoughtfully. He took his time, and Riku felt his lungs contracting and stomach grow cold.

“Might have to invest in a squirt-bottle,” Sora decided, then laughed at his own joke. When Riku didn’t respond, Sora looked at him and frowned. “You look shook up, dude. Did you think I’d actually kick you out for swearing?”

Riku opened his mouth, then closed it. He couldn’t think of an answer that didn’t sound truly pathetic.

“Aww!” Sora whined. “No, I’m not going to do that! Sorry, I didn’t think about that being in poor taste.”

“No,” Riku quickly cut in. It wasn’t Sora’s fault Riku had gone and panicked on him. “It’s just, I’m still a little…” He stopped. He did not want to say ‘sensitive.’

“Sensitive?” Sora finished. 

Riku bit at the end of his cheek. “Sure.”

Sora gave him a sympathetic smile, and Riku couldn’t help but hate him for it. Or himself. It was one or the other. Though, it wasn’t really Sora’s fault, all things considered. Riku couldn’t expect not to have others taken pity on him when his whole life was such a mess.

Riku cleared his throat, wanting to escape this awkward conversation they had gotten themselves into.

“How did you actually know I wanted to be taken on a wal-” 

Wait. 

No. 

Rike froze. He had fucked up. He had fucked up _bad._ He desperately looked at Sora, hoping the other man hadn’t noticed. Of course, Riku had no such luck. He never had.

Sora’s mouth fell open, eyes wide. He slowly raised his hands to his face, looking like someone on a home improvement show, the kind Riku’s aunt loved, right after the truck had driven forward and revealed the new home. In short, Sora looked like it was the best day of his life.

 _”A walk,”_ Sora ushered, softly. Like he couldn’t believe the gift that had just been bestowed on him. As if Riku had just said something beautiful, tender, and life changing. Riku felt his face burning bright red, trying to correct himself so fast he sputtered.

“Wanted to go _running,_ ” Riku harshly corrected through gritted teeth. But he knew it was too little too late. “To join you on a _run_.”

“Whooo wants to go for a walk?” Sora cooed. 

Riku flipped him off with both hands then promptly turned and left the kitchen.

He did his best to tune out Sora’s cackling as he laced up his shoes. Sora continued to call him a good boy, and reference the “w word” as Riku put on his new, now-clean, army green winter jacket.

Riku’s verbal ammunition of calling Sora a “stupid fucking cock” now taken from him, he settled for trying to get the message across with his eyes alone. Sora, unfortunately, seemed to be the only person on this earth besides Naminé who was unphased by Riku’s death-glare.

The two walked outside onto the front porch. Riku was truly grateful for the new coat. It was pitch black, and it was _cold._ The sky was black, practically no stars visible. The sun was nowhere to been, and probably wouldn’t be joining them for a few hours. It was rising later each day. The neighborhood was only distinguishable from the dim street lights, but that gave it a friendly sort of orange glow.

“Still no snow,” Sora voiced aloud, holding his hand out to the empty air.

“Is that unusual for Traverse?” Riku asked, latching desperately onto any conversation that didn’t involve the allegory of Riku being a pet canine.

“Nah, guess not.” Sora locked up the house behind them. “December’s barely just started, we usually don’t start getting the heavy stuff until a week or two in.” He looked Riku over. “I think you’ll be okay, though.”

“Is this cold?” Riku asked. His breath tumbled out visibly thanks to the porch light and the frosted air.

“Uhm…” Sora scratched at his cheek. “Maybe a little?”

Riku sighed. If this weather wasn’t considered cold yet, then he was doomed when the snow came.

“Welp!” Sora clapped his hands together. He was back to his usual volume now that they were no longer in proximity of the sleeping children. “Let’s go!”

True to his word, Sora flashed him a last grin before excitedly bouncing down the porch steps. The second he was on the paved sidewalk, he took off running. Not wanting to be left behind, Riku quickly followed after him.

Riku watched Sora running a few feet in front of him. Riku was surprised by how good Sora’s form was. He wondered if Sora had taken track in high school or something. But then after they reached the end of the street Sora began running even faster. He sprinted up far ahead of Riku with a burst a speed. Riku then realized Sora had most likely never run in any formal capacity. Because even if Sora was wicked fast, his pacing was terrible.

Now three houses ahead of him, Sora turned around, managing to still expertly run backwards. He cupped his hands over his mouth, calling out, “You’re slow, Riku!”

“It’s called pacing myself!” Riku shouted back. “You’re going to tire yourself out, dumbas-” Riku stopped, and then corrected himself. “Dumb person!”

Sora laughed at him, (fairly hard,) but gave no other response besides turning face-forward again. After that, he took off even faster. Riku maintained his average, but fairly fast pace. He was an endurance runner, and he knew the sight of a sprinter about to embarass themselves by revealing a total lack of stamina when he saw one.

But after they had turned out of the neighborhood, Riku was starting to second guess his assessment. He followed Sora, turning right. Downhill, the opposite direction of the library. This path was new to him, but it just offered more quaint suburban houses and decently-paved sidewalks.

Sora was still keeping his fast pace. Riku wrinkled his nose. There was no way in hell that scrawny Sora was faster than him. Or at least, not faster than him with the endurance to maintain that speed.

And yet, at the bottom of the hill Sora still kept his speed, even after the street had become even terrain once again. They had to have been running for at least five minutes, and Sora still hadn’t run out of endurance. 

_“Slow and steady wins the race.”_ The lesson had been drilled into Riku’s head since he had started running in middle school. The other students, brash and arrogant, had taken off at the start like a bullet. Riku, meanwhile, had watched them from behind with smug satisfaction. 

While the other suckers in his class wasted all their energy trying to outstrip the person directly in front of them, Riku had maintained his speed. He had not been the slowest by any means. In fact, he had only been a few behind first. But not for long. One after the other his classmates would tire out, and he took the win every time.

Despite hearing his P.E. teacher’s voice clear as bell in his ear, repeating the age-old idiom, Riku grit his teeth. He was not going to lose to a damn _sprinter._ He quickened his pace, advancing on Sora until they were right beside each other. Sora noticed his reappearance.

“I missed you,” He told Riku, grinning wide.

*

In the end, Sora had tapped out first. He was a block down from Riku, and Riku caught up to find him sitting on the retaining wall that separated the sidewalk from the grass. His hoodie was off, tied around his waist, wearing a sweaty undershirt.

Riku had unzipped his own coat, but he hadn’t gone so far as to start removing layers. The frigid air was relief to his burning skin, but it was still frigid air. As soon as Riku cooled off, it was going to be murderously cold to be outdoors while damp with sweat.

“I won,” Sora announced. A touch breathless, but still smug.

Riku barked out a laughed. Sora tilted his head, clearly wondering why Riku was so happy about losing.

“No?” Riku corrected him, his own voice was also a little winded. “I could have kept running.”

“Yeah but I was first,” Sora pointed out.

“Uh, yeah, but abirtiralily,” Riku countered. “You just decided to stop at a random point while you were ahead, and decided you won. Do you see the issue in that logic?”

Sora blinked at him. Riku blinked back. He could tell Sora wasn’t following his explanation. Or, at least, was choosing not to follow it. 

“Nevermind,” Riku sighed. There wasn’t really a point.

“Ready to head back?” Sora asked. Riku nodded. “Al-right!” He jumped up, throwing his arms above his head.

“Are we running back?” Riku inquired, not thrilled with the idea.

“I mean, according to you, you could just keep going,” Sora chided. “Not a problem for this guy, eh?”

Riku had said that, but his lungs were burning and his legs ached. “I’ll uhm, get lost if I run ahead, so...”

Sora laughed. “Okie dokes, tough guy.” He patted Riku on the arm. “You can walk.” Riku did not like the way Sora put emphasis on the words, “So you don’t get _lost,_ and all.”

Riku scowled. Sora laughed harder.

*

Some of the houses on the way back were lit up. The early-risers of Twilight had turned on their bedroom and bathroom lights to get ready for their day. Riku kept note of the street signs and the landmarks, so maybe next time he wouldn’t have to wait for Sora to go running.

“I saw you running on campus,” Sora announced, breaking the still morning silence. Riku looked at him in the orange street lights. “A handful of times, at the rec. center. That’s why I figured you’d wanna join me.”

“Oh,” Riku replied. “Okay.” 

It was weird to think Sora had noticed him outside of art history. Riku had barely been aware of Sora’s existence, apart from just knowing him as the person that sat next to Riku and slept through class. Until, of course, that fateful day when Braig had thrown a stapler at Sora. Their mutual hatred of the abhorrent professor had gotten them talking.

Life was weird like that these days. Sometimes a stapler was the difference between sleeping under a bridge and sleeping on a futon in a stranger’s living room.

“You’re fast,” Sora told him. He grinned, and then bumped a fist against his own puffed up chest. “But I’m faster!”

 

“Yeah but running isn’t about speed,” Riku began, exasperated. He readied himself to explain, for the umpteenth time, that the sport was about endurance. Sora however, didn’t seem to be listening.

“Aw, _son of a heckin’ gun!_ ” Sora cried. Riku raised his eyebrows. He figured that was the Sora equivalent of an f-bomb.

Sora pointed across the street to a grey ranch-style house. It was entirely unremarkable, the only thing of note being that it was the first house Riku had seen so far that had their christmas lights up.

“Ms. Able’s already got her decorations out!” Sora moaned.

“That _bitch,_ ” Riku spat, sarcastically, as he had know idea why Sora was so upset. Luckily, Sora was too distraught to notice the swear.

“People put up their lights pretty late here, don’t they?” Riku mused aloud.

Sora looked at him, confused. “Do we?”

Riku shrugged. “Usually people put them up in like, november, where I’m from.”

“Oh.” Sora wrinkled his nose. “That’s pretty trashy.”

“Agreed.”

Sora glowered at the red and green bulbs for a moment longer before he began walking again. He sighed. “At this rate I’m going to be the last one on the block to get my decorations out. I’ve got to clean that garage, Riku!”

“I’ll help,” Riku offered. “No doing much with my time right now anyway.”

“Heck yeah!” Sora beamed. “Maybe we can have time for another session after I get back tonight. Thanks, Riku!”

Riku returned the smile before he got a chance to stop himself.

*

When the two returned, Riku found himself surprisingly hungry. He did his best to assist Sora in making breakfast. Mostly though, he just leaned on the counter and offered to help a few times, got stressed that Sora might say yes a few times, and then was relieved Sora said no a few times. 

Riku figured he would probably need to learn how to cook eventually. And better admitting he had no clue how to cook to Sora, rather than Kairi. 

Riku shuddered imagining her reaction to that knowledge. He could just hear her voice, “useless _and_ a freeloader, eh?” But Riku decided to save that humiliating conversation for another time.

By the time the kids were up, (summoned by the smell of bacon and eggs,) Sora had his work uniform on and Riku had scarfed down the plate Sora had cooked for him.

“Are you leaving already?” Roxas asked. He rubbed drowsily at his eyes, dressed in basketball shorts and a baggy grey shirt decorated with cartoon aliens. Xion was at his tail, in a t-shirt so oversized it went past her knees.

“I’ll be back for dinner,” Sora assured him, setting the table with food and glasses of orange juice.

“Well, good,” Roxas grumbled. “You’re never home these days.”

“I know, Roxie.” Sora frowned. He leaned against the counter, sipping down his second cup that morning of disgustingly sweet coffee. “I’m sorry, bud. But you know I’m looking into getting something a little more stable. Full time hours, decent health insurance, decent 401k matching, PTO, all that jazz.”

Xion sat at the small table in the kitchen. “We’re just kids, we don’t know what those big words mean,” she told him, with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Roxas sat down beside her, picking up his fork. “ _I_ know what they mean,” he corrected her.

Xion smiled and then looked at her eldest brother. “He doesn't.”

Sora laughed. “That’s okay, Roxie. We still love you. Even if you don’t know big adult words.”

“I do know what they mean!” Roxas grumbled, turning red. Xion and Sora laughed again. Roxas ate his eggs in silence, looking sullen.

“Well,” Sora said, placing his finished mug in the sink. “The important thing is better job, more money, less hours. And then-” He walked over to the kids at the table, and ruffled his kid brother’s hair. _“The lady raking in the chips is gonna be, Ro-xie~!”_

Roxas gave an exasperated noise and Sora kissed him on the forehead, then Xion on the cheek. He turned around, and saw Riku frowning at him.

“Want a kiss too, Riku?” Sora quipped. Riku rolled his eyes, not wanting to honor that with a response.

“I just want to know how you have not seen Chicago,” Riku told him, before Sora could say any more dumb things. “You keep quoting it.”

“Whusschicago?” Roxas asked, mouthful of food.

Sora shrugged, giving an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, I still don’t know where I heard it.” Roxas took a sip of orange juice, somehow managing to frown around the glass.

“Yet you sing it like, _aaall_ the time,” Roxas groaned.

“It’s your theme song, lil’ bro,” Sora told him. Riku figured Sora must have been telling the truth about never seeing Chicago. If Sora had, he definitely wouldn’t be ascribing his twelve year old brother to a song about sex and violence. 

Sora looked down at his phone, sighed, then pocketed it. “Well I need to head out. Kai said she might be a little late, but she should be here soon.” He gave them all an energetic wave. “I love you guys, have a good day!” The kids waved back, and Riku continued to stand unmoving in the kitchen.

Sora grinned at him. “You too, Riku.” He blew Riku a kiss. “Here, I blew you one instead.”

Riku glowered at him, feeling his face heat up. Now all _two_ of his weapons, (swears and middle fingers,) could not be used in front of the minors, rendering Riku defenseless against Sora’s stupid shenanigans. 

Sora cracked up at his own joke, and Riku heard two voices snickering from the table as Sora left. Not too long after, the two finished breakfast and Riku took their plates. Roxas mumbled something about a shower.

Riku busies himself with trying to make the uncooperative sink produce anything other than arctic temperatures. He didn’t notice Xion standing next to him until he was rinsing soap suds off the plates. 

There was something a little creepy about the small figure in a baggy mickey mouse shirt staring at him with wide, pale-colored eyes. Riku did his best not to drop the plate and reveal to the world he had been frightened by a seven year old girl.

But, speaking of frightened, Riku noticed she wasn’t balled up in her hoodie at the sight of him, for once. He wondered if she would get scared off if he spoke, but decided to risk it. Otherwise they would just be stuck staring at each other.

“Do you need something?” he asked. She shook her head, and took a deep breath.

“I wanted to say sorry,” She intertwined her fingers, swinging her arms from side to side, looking nervous.

“Sorry?” Riku repeated, surprised.

“For how I’ve been. My brothers call it ‘turtling,” she informed him. “Yuffie talked to me about you yesterday, and Sora too. They said that you were okay, and I didn’t have to turtle.” Riku bit back a chuckle. She had such soft, child’s voice, but she spoke with such a mature tone.

She looked up at him, her expression skittish. Riku realized with a jolt he needed to say something now. He had no idea how to talk to children, and all his previous attempts with her had been a disaster.

“Oh! Uh, no!” He quickly stuttered out. She gave him a confused look. “It’s okay! You don’t need to be sorry.” He scratched at the back of his neck. “I would have probably turtled up too,” he admitted.

“Really?” she asked. Some of her tension seemed to go away.

“Oh, definitely.” He nodded. “I would be turtling from everyone if I had a big enough hoodie.”

She smiled. “I didn’t think grown-ups were scared of new people.”

“Your brothers the exception,” he told her. “Grown ups are terrified of new people.”

Xion giggled. “Well, I’m glad I talked to you,” she admitted. “You’re not that scary.”

“I’ll take it,” Riku said, smiling a little as well. She grinned wide, showing off her incomplete set of teeth. For the first time Riku noticed how much she looked like Sora.

As she left the kitchen to go get ready, another person sidled up beside him. 

“Look at that!” Kairi cheered. “She talked to you!”

Riku did his best not to jump out of skin again. What was with these people and sneaking up on him? He must have been busy talking to Xion so he hadn't heard the truck pull up.

Kairi was looking pleased, hand on her hips and smiling up at him. She wasn’t in ballet clothes today, but a lilac tank top and leggings. Riku wondered if she ever felt cold. Riku wondered if he was the only one in this city who felt cold.

“Yeah,” Riku laughed nervously, looking down the hallway. “I was worried she hated my guts or something…” He felt so relieved Xion was finally talking to him. Between that and getting out of the house for a bit, he was on cloud nine for the first time in months.

“Aw! Xion doesn't hate people!” Kairi gasped. “She’s like seven, dude. She’s just really scared of tall people.”

Riku slowly turned his head, giving Kairi an incredulous look. “What?” he asked her, speaking slowly.

Kairi shrugged. “Yeah man. Kids just have things, she just has a thing about tall people. She’s pretty much always been that way.”

“What?” Riku asked again.

Kairi nodded. “She was so scared of Yuffie when she first started working with her. It took Xion like a month before she could talk to her.”

Riku groaned, slumping down against the counter and putting his heads into his hands.

Kairi looked at him with amusement. “You alright?” She asked.

“It’s nothing,” he muttered.

Kairi laughed, confusion apparent. “If you say so…” she said. He could hear the shrug in her voice. Kairi left the kitchen, leaving him alone to let the words she had just said sink in.

So, Xion had been scared of tall people. That was why the little girl squeaked like a mouse in a cat’s line of sight every single time he had so much as looked in her direction.

Riku desperately wished someone would have thought to tell him that little piece of information a week ago. It would have taken them absolutely no time at all, and it would have saved him from a world of worry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3 :3 :3
> 
> and nother big shout out to mechanipede.tumblr.com and archiveofourown.org/users/KaiserinAstraia/pseuds/KaiserinAstraia  
> whove been helping me with editing and bouncing around ideas ^^ check out their own soriku art and fics!
> 
> P.s.: im worried i may have mislead readers with the "xion is skittish around tall people" its not because of axel, its because authority figures like police officers/prison gaurds are generally tall. Im not sure how directly that will be addressed later, but its not rlly a spoiler so i mention it now ^^


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